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THE 

WORSHIP OF GENIUS, 

AND THE 

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER, 

OR 

ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 

By PROF. C. \jLLMANN. 

^ranglatcO from ti)* Set man, 

By LUCY SANEORD. 




" Tlie Worship of Genius has its truth and its justice as opposed to souietliiug 
lower, but is untrue and unjust as opposed to something higher ; it is beautiful and 
praiseworthy as a natural enthusiasm for the highest manifestations of the human 
intellect ; but reprehensible and destructive as a substitute for the worship of God, 
and for the true living Christian faith."— Page 5-6. 



LONDON : 

CHAPMAN, BROTHERS, 121, NEWGATE STREET. 

M.DCCC.XLVI. 



ADVERTISEMENT . 



The former of these Essays is taken from a pamphlet, 
published in 1840, which also contained G. Schwab's Speech 
at the Inauguration of the Statue of Schiller ; his Reply to 
Ullmann's Letter ; and his Essay on " Schiller and Christi- 
anity." These have not been thought of sufficient general 
interest to render a translation desirable. But Ullmann's 
Essay " On the Distinctive Character, or Essence of Chris- 
tianity," though published at a later period, appears suitably 
appended to the former, not merely from its similarity in 
subject and spirit, but because, while the first is directed 
chiefly to eradicate error, the second, according to Luther's 
great principle, quoted by Ullmann, aims at supplying its 
place with truth. 

The style of the original, which permittee! some degree of 
compression, has prevented the translation from being in 
every part strictly literal ; but it is hoped that the author's 
ideas, and their connexion, have been closely followed, and 
his words no more altered than the preservation of that 
connexion required. 

London, June 6tk, 1846. 



A 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

L THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. A Letter to 

Gustayus Schwab . . . . I 

II. SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 

1. The modem {C Worship of Genius " and the ancient Genii - 

worship . . ... . .49 

2. On the existence of a law for the periodical appearance 

of Men of Genius . . . . .52 

III. THE ESSENCE OE CHRISTIANITY. 

1. General view of the object of the work . . .63 

2. The different stages of development through which Chris- 

tianity itself has passed. The same phases perceptible 

in the views which have been successively taken of it . 67 

3. Christianity as Doctrine. Under this head are comprised 

both Supernaturalism and Naturalism . . . 72 

4. Christianity as a Moral Law. The philosophy of Kant ; 

Rationalism . ; . . . .79 

5. Christianity as the Religion of Redemption. Schleier- 

macher's definition . . . • . .85 

6. The peculiar significance and influence of Christ's indi- 

vidual character . . . . .88 

7. The views of Hegel and his school . . .90 

8. Christ as the exemplification of the union of the Divine 

and Human in one character . . . .95 

9. Importance of this truth for the definition of the dis- 

tinctive Character of Christianity . . .97 

10. Christianity as the Perfect Religion . . .99 

11. Inferences from the preceding . . . .101 

12. Retrospect and epitome of the argument . . 104 

13. Application of the preceding to the idea of Faith . , 106 

14. Application to the Church . . . .111 



THE 



WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



BY 



PROF. C. ULLMANN. 



PREFACE. 



To many who take up this work for the first time its title 
may appear to want unity, or be even wholly incomprehen- 
sible. A few words on the origin of the article may therefore 
vindicate the connexion and force of the prefix which has 
been chosen. 

Dr. Strauss, in his article on " The Transient and the 
Permanent in Christianity," which appeared in the Freikafen 
Journal, towards the end of the summer of 1838, had 
declared, that to our age of religious disorganization nothing 
was left but a worship of genius ; that is, a reverence for 
those great spirits who form epochs in the progress of the 
human race, and in whom, taken collectively, the godlike 
manifests itself to us most fully; he had even included 
Christianity under this worship of genius, by assigning to its 
founder the first place among those men of genius who have 
promoted human progress, In the spring of 1839 was cele- 
brated the inauguration of the statue of Schiller at Stutgart ; 
and my friend Schwab, as an orator, expressed, in language 
worthy of the subject, the national feelings of veneration for 
the immortal poet. Little as had been the cause given for 
the suspicion, either by the originators of the festival, or by 
the speaker, this act of homage to the memory of the poet 
was regarded as an act of religious worship, as an idolatry of 
genius. These words of Strauss, and this homage to genius, 
entering my mind one day at the same time, suggested the 
idea of a letter on the worship of genius, which I therefore 
addressed to the friend who had spoken beside the statue of 
Schiller. 



1 1 



PREFACE. 



The question was not now, whether he who first expressed 
in plain words the idea of a worship of genius, still remained 
firm in that opinion, or even considered it of importance ; for 
our concern was not with an individual, but with a principle. 
It is well known, that before the appearance of the article on 
" The Transient and the Permanent in Christianity," many 
intellectual persons of both sexes, either humble kindred or 
honoured chiefs of our high aristocracy of mind, knew and 
practised no other worship than that of genius ; and that this 
religion, notwithstanding, or, perhaps, owing to its Eetherial 
and unsubstantial character, will retain its followers, even if 
he who coined the name for them should desert it. His 
words found a response in many quarters, for the very reason, 
that they gave a more definite expression to an already exist- 
ing state of feeling, of which it thus promoted the progress. 
The affair, however, afforded me a welcome opportunity of 
pursuing yet further one branch of my remarks on Strauss's 
Christology.* 

I have added some Supplementary Remarks, forming an 
Appendix, upon those points which could not conveniently 
receive farther elucidation in the letter, f 

C. ULLMANN. 

Heidelberg, March, 28, 1840. 

* The former essays with which the the present discussion is connected, 
are: — Historisch oder Mythisch? — Beitrage zur Beantwortung der 
gegenwartigen Lebensfrage in der Theologie. Hamburg, bei Fr. Perthes, 
1838 ; and particularly the Sejhdschrjyfoen au Strauss liber the Personlich- 
keit nnd Wunder Christi. S. 89-180. 

f Some portions of the Preface having reference only to Schwab and 
his contribution to the volume, as it appears in the German,* have been 
omitted. 



THE 



WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 

[A LETTER TO GUSTAV. SCHWAB.] 



How often, formerly, my dear friend, — when seated to- 
gether after the labours of the day, with others of congenial 
spirit, in one of the most social rooms of that Tubingen insti- 
tution, from which so much that is important, not in theology 
alone, has proceeded, — have we refreshed ourselves by the 
communication of whatever was stirring in heart and brain ! 
Even in later days, the happiness of intercourse with you has 
often been granted me ; and thus I have acquired the habit of 
living in intimate communion with you, and of imparting and 
discussing mentally even what we could not converse upon in 
person. But the inner language sometimes calls for outward 
expression ; and you will therefore permit me, since com- 
munication by word of mouth is for the present denied us, 
to address myself to you this once before the public. The 
subject, too, is one of general interest, while many points 
prompt me to refer myself to jbu in particular. My mind 
has been for some time occupied by that which gives the title 
to these pages ; which by a voice of much influence has been 
not merely proposed, but announced as already existing : the 
worship of genius. You know what has been said upon it by 
the celebrated author of the "Life of Jesus," in his article on 

B 



2 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



"The Transient and the Permanent in Christianity," which 
has been separately printed, in connexion with the charming 
and characteristic description of our friend Kerner. " The only 
worship," he writes, — "we may lament or rejoice, but we can- 
not deny it, — the only worship left to the cultivated of this age 
from the religious disorganization of the last, is the worship of 
genius." Plainly, and without circumlocution, this worship is 
designated as a new Paganism or Catholicism, which has come 
over Protestant Germany ; since, as if one human manifestation 
of the Deity were not enough, men now require, after the Indian 
fashion, a succession of incarnations ; the solitary majesty of 
Jesus is thus once more encircled with a halo of saints, " only 
that these are certainly not exactly the saints of the church ; 
but, as in the private chapel of Alexander Severus, the statue 
of Orpheus stood beside those of Abraham and Christ, so 
the tendency of the present day is, to revere the Deity as 
manifested in all spirits which have exercised a vivifying and 
creative influence upon mankind." 

I need not tell you, dear friend, — we, and all of our contem- 
poraries who are alive to the impressions of the present, have 
often felt it, sometimes with sorrow, sometimes with hope, — that 
our age is employed in the solution of a great riddle ; it seeks 
for satisfaction in something new ; and has at least not yet 
found true expression, appealing to universal consciousness, 
for that which may again unite, and permanently inspire, the 
minds of men. What, then, if the words "Worship of Genius" 
contained the solution of the problem ? One is certainly, and 
with justice, prejudiced beforehand against a worship which is 
invented-, and such modes of worship have always, as with 
the Theo-philanthropists and the St. Simonians, shown them- 
selves, precisely because invented, rootless and ephemeral. 
But the worship of genius, say its followers, needs not to be 
formed; it has already formed itself; it is the only one which 
the great religious ruin has left to the cultivated ; it is forced 
upon us by necessity, if we would not wholly close our minds 



THE WOKSHIP OF GENIUS. 



3 



to what is above us. Yes ; this worship, even if we are dis- 
posed to see in it, not the glowing dawn of a better age, but 
the mournful hues of the departed day, is already in existence 
among us • and you, my Stuttgart friends, I might continue, 
have celebrated its first great festival. Your homage to Schiller 
was the explicit national inauguration of this worship ; and 
thou, dear friend, obeying the universal impulse of the times, 
and thus, without, perhaps, distinctly wishing or intending it, 
sympathizing with the author of the Life of Jesus, didst stand 
as a worthy priest below the statue of the immortal poet 
to whom these first-fruits were offered. The people of every 
class bore then part, forming the first free congregation of the 
new chinch ; and ancient Suabia, the scene of so much that 
has been important to chmch and state, to science and poetry, 
has now become the cradle of this new faith. But how? 
Suabia, the better part of whose sons cling with such serious 
rational devotion to the faith received from their fathers ; that 
Suabia, known before all countries of Protestant Germany for 
her adherence to Christianity and the church. ; can she thus 
suddenly have embraced the worship of genius, so infinitely 
differing from all which she has hitherto held holy ? If we 
examine beyond appearances it can surely not be so. For 
had the question been asked of those present on the occasion, 
the great majority would certainly have protested against the 
idea of holding a festival of genius, with the design of making 
this service a substitute for then religion; and thou, my 
friend, wouldst have been the first to protest against such an 
interpretation — nay, thou didst so unasked ; for at the con- 
clusion of thy beautiful speech, worthy alike of the Christian 
preacher and the poet, it is not to genius that the highest 
honour is ascribed, but to Him from whom genius proceeds. 
But what would have been the ground of such a protest ? Is 
it that what has been called the universally-received worship 
of genius, has in reality no truth and no significance ? Yet it 
hm a truth, which was at once the justification and the 

B 2 



4 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



inspiration of that day's great national expression, in which 
doubtless innumerable individuals, who could not take part 
outwardly, did so in spirit ; but the same thing, when taken 
as a substitute for religion, is false and wrong ; and this is 
the imputation from which you would have defended your- 
selves, and indeed have indirectly done so. This I would fain 
make, by my present address to you, more clear to myself, 
and perhaps to others also ; hoping that where you do not 
agree with me, you will be stimulated to substitute some- 
thing better in itself and better expressed. 

The Worship of Genius, in the widest sense, we may define 
as that deep, enthusiastic homage, amounting to the highest 
veneration, which we pay to the most important and influen- 
tial manifestations of the human mind, or to those individuals 
who, in whatever sphere of life, in the departments of art, of 
science, of politics, morals, or religion, have contributed in 
some new and extraordinary manner to its development ; — 
in a word, the greatest possible veneration for great men 
and their performances; a veneration which, when of the 
right kind, prompts appropriate manifestations of respect 
to such individuals, and stimulates him who entertains it 
to similar exertions, so far as his abilities permit. Re- 
verence for great actions and great men, understood in this 
general sense, is, as I need not observe to you, my friend, 
nothing new. The nations of antiquity, especially the Greeks 
and Romans, were devoted to it ; and even in the Christian 
world it is not extinct. Every human being who is awake 
to a higher consciousness, — every nation which has a history, 
and lives therein, nourishes and cultivates this reverence ; the 
public monuments of all ages, which recal the memory of 
great men — Westminster Abbey — the Valhalla, to which we 
Germans are looking — are evident signs of its existence. The 
only novelty lies in the attempt to make this worship a sub- 
stitute for the true religion, and a remedy for the evils occa- 
sioned by the decay of the latter. Yet even this is not wholly 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



5 



new. A worship of genius, even in this sense, has no doubt 
been silently practised by not a few in modern times. For 
to how many of our western neighbours has Napoleon really 
become a god ; and to how many Germans remains no higher 
object of enthusiasm and devotion than Go the ! Indeed, 
something of the sort has been before expressed, though in a 
different spirit and connexion. I would here recal to your recol- 
lection only one of the first writers of our nation. Jean Paul, 
in his article entitled "Wishes for a Monument to Luther," not 
only says, "Yes ; would Germany only build national capitals, 
and construct and consecrate therein something more sublime 
than a Westminster Abbey — since there rank and riches take 
the same station as worth — namely, a rotunda of the mighty 
dead ; whither could the youth make a nobler pilgrimage 
than to these holy graves ? — -where could he catch so well the 
living fire which should preserve him through the cold world? " 
—but he adds, still more significantly, in actual anticipation of 
the worship of genius, "If one religion and one doctrine after 
another, which elevates man to spirit, yields to the attacks of 
time, build at least temples to men, wherein the spiritually great 
may remind us of the greatest, and admiration , of prayer. But 
though such things have been thus practised in fact, and ex- 
pressed definitely and confidently in words, though they have 
been thus philosophically examined, and with such especial 
reference to the founder of Christianity himself,— it has never 
before been declared, as now, that the worship of genius is the 
only form of devotion remaining, or truly applicable to our age. 

We are thus led to treat of the worship of genius in a 
twofold sense — according to its general meaning, as it has 
been always more or less practised, and according to the 
special interpretation which some now seek to put upon it. 
And with reference to this distinction, my judgment, which I 
hope you will approve, is in general terms as follows : — The 
worship of genius has its truth and its justice as opposed to 
something lower, but is untrue and unjust as opposed to 



6 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



something higher ; it is beautiful and praiseworthy as a natural 
enthusiasm, for the highest manifestations of the human in- 
tellect ; but reprehensible and destructive as a substitute for 
the worship of God, and for the true living Christian faith. 

There is, indeed, a tendency, and a very prevalent one, in 
contradistinction to which we may well desire nothing so 
much as a very general worship of genius. A poet needs 
only to be reminded with one word of that "resistance of the 
soul-less world/ 5 which hitherto the best and greatest have 
had to endure • and he will assuredly hail, as glorious, the time 
when a deep, joyful, intelligent reverence, not merely of talents 
and accomplishments, but of that far higher attribute, creative 
genius, shall be universal. You, yourself, in your speech, 
designated utility as the idol of the world, to which all powers 
pay tribute and all talents do homage. And when we add to 
this, pleasure — either wholly sensual, or, if of an intellectual 
character^ diluted as far as possible with sense — we have the 
supreme deities of the age, compared with whom, genius 
appears a divine existence, and its worship as something 
infinitely sublime. That service of the appetites, coarser or 
more refined, which lives only for the moment, — that gross 
egotism which exists only in the narrow circle of self, or in 
the little-enlarged self of the most immediate connexions, — 
that utilitarian spirit, the mental mildew of our time, which 
computes the progress of the world only according to the 
number of spinning and silk-machines, of steamboats and 
railroads, — even that more refined voluptuousness, which loads 
talent, when cultivated into accomplishment, with gold and 
honours, because it flatters the senses, and shortens the other- 
wise vacant, halting moments ; all these would be at once 
elevated to a sort of religion, to something above themselves, 
if the worship of genius dawned upon them. Men would 
divine that there is somewhat higher in the world than can 
be eaten or measured, counted and calculated, enjoyed by the 
eye or ear without deeper thought or feeling ; the mysterious 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



7 



something, which bursts forth from unknown depths, and 
reveals itself where it will — spirit; they would, after having 
learnt to acknowledge and adrnire the mysterious origin and 
operations of the human mind, be more easily brought to 
recognise a supreme creative power, of whom human thinkers 
and inventors present only a feeble image ; and to raise their 
eyes to the spiritual sun, of whom men of genius are but 
single rays of variously obscured brightness. Contrasted with 
this materialism, however refined, there is something really 
refreshing and elevating to hear how, in a kindred city of the 
north, the greatest sculptor of our day has been welcomed by 
the enthusiastic love of a whole people, as triumphantly as the 
most beloved prince : even considered by itself, it is a sublime 
manifestation. "We there see that the divinely-ennobled kings 
of the intellectual kingdom find their claims allowed ; and we 
can but rejoice at such homage paid to geuius, as a noble 
proof of the higher spiritual capacities of our contemporaries. 

As opposed, also, to heartless ingratitude, the worship of 
genius is something beautiful and desirable. For there are 
certainly many whose minds are capable of recognising genius, 
but who pay no homage to it in then hearts. They view the 
activity of those spirits which labour for the true and beautiful 
as an amusing sport, as brilliant fireworks displayed before 
them and for them, without any feelings of peculiar attach- 
ment or interest for the performers being excited in their 
minds. Intellectual productions are to them as flowers whose 
perfume refreshes them for a while ; but the idea never strikes 
them, that these are the gifts of a living hand. They rejoice 
in the work, and it never occurs to them to thank, honour, 
and love the author. And yet to do so is not only possible, but 
it is a duty. Genius, not only in its productions, but in its 
spiritual identity — in the central point of its individual exist- 
ence, deserves an honest, heartfelt homage ; certainly not in 
the sense of those whose almost unquestioning admiration 
would make genius, with whatever moral faults and weak- 



s 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



nesses, the object of unqualified veneration, and thus intro- 
duce an idolatry of great men, which would encroach on the 
claims of a better worship ; but, regarding even the very 
highest manifestations of the human intellect (which furnish 
at once proofs of a divine superintendence, and vital energy 
for the noblest developments of humanity) as personal attain- 
ments, we should take the possessor more closely to our hearts, 
and embrace him with sympathising human love as an indi- 
vidual of our own species, who by labours and struggles has 
triumphantly glorified his nature. And, for the most part, 
what we call genius is a hazardous gift to the possessor. 
Genius wears, indeed, a blythe and careless aspect ; but — the 
internal and external history of men of genius proves it, and 
the very poet to whom you have raised a monument is the 
most convincing example of the fact — it is scarcely ever un- 
folded inwardly and outwardly without severe struggles and 
sufferings. Those who "wander in the torrid climes of fame" 
must shed many bitter sweat-drops; and almost every one 
who, in any one department, has reached the summit of human 
development, has, in some other way, done penance for his 
superabundant powers, and paid, with heavy interest, the debt 
which he owed to finite humanity. For these mental labours, 
then, — for these struggles and sufferings, without which the 
highest qualities of our nature cannot be developed, — men of 
true genius, who elevate the existence of our race, have a right 
to our gratitude, to our personal gratitude, such as we feel for 
a benefactor. This affectionate homage is assuredly far more 
moral— aye, if you will, far more pious — than the proud, cold 
objectiveness, which forgets the artist in the work, and is but 
another name for heartlessness or overweening egotism. Very 
differently from those who honour not genius, least they should 
trench upon their own honours — who love it not because they 
love themselves too well — have the most excellent persons ever 
thought and felt ; genius has been to them the object of per- 
sonal reverence and love, and the scenes of its life or acts have 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



9 



been held by them as sacred. Very differently did you also 
express yourself, when you designated the statue of the great 
poet, to whom a personal homage was thereby intended, as 
"an object of pilgrimage for the love and reverence of nations." 
In this sense, you too, my friend, must approve the worship 
of genius, and wish it more and more widely diffused among 
the unsympathising multitude, and in the bosoms of the proud 
and self-absorbed. 

In the last place, my Mend, will you not agree with me 
if I say that the worship of genius is right, as opposed to a 
certain pious scrupulosity and dogmatic narrowness of views ? 
I know that this is a delicate point, on which opinions at once 
divide. But we must not therefore pass it over. A sharp, 
searching contest has been here carried on, especially in our 
latter days. One party says, genius, unique in its species, 
and marked by the very rarity of its appearance as something 
extraordinary, is not to be measured by the common moral 
standard ; it has, as in its productions, so in its life, which 
is the basis of those productions, its own laws and privileges ; 
from its creations we can require only beauty, life, and har- 
mony; the demands of faith and morality transplant the 
question to another sphere, and can only confuse the judg- 
ment. The others answer, there are no exceptional laws 
for the greatest, more than for the ordinary members of 
humanity; the eternal truths of faith, and the irrefragable 
ordinances of morality are, like the laws of natural life, valid 
for all ; and then authority is as unqualified over genius, as 
over the meanest individual who bears the image of his Maker; 
— nay, the endowment of genius, so far from justifying a 
violation of these eternal ordinances, imposes upon superior 
talents a stronger obligation to serve more gladly the Highest, 
and to give in all things honour to the Name which is above 
every name. Even the works of genius cannot be excepted 
from these laws ; they are worthy of their origin, only when 
they mirror to us the godlike, — when they are steeped in the 
b 3 



10 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



spirit of piety and morality; and inasmuch as Christianity 
involves in itself the perfection of piety and moral life, in the 
spirit of Christianity nothing is beautiful but what is good; — 
but what, in the Christian world, is Christian. These two 
opposite principles have been so far carried out, and applied to 
the actual relations of life, that the first has given birth to an im- 
moral laxity in men of genius, or those who deem themselves 
such, towards their beloved self; a frivolous idolatry of genius, 
and a hel-esprit libertinism : from the latter has proceeded a 
narrow moral rigour, perhaps often a well-meant, but bigoted 
intolerance towards all manifestations of intellect, undistin- 
guished by any definite badge of party or opinion. The 
earnestness and strict morality of our nation will prevent it, 
as a body, from falling into the former error ; while its intel- 
lectual freshness and activity, the liberal, though deep and 
serious character of its piety, must preserve it from the second. 
Nor is either of us, my dear friend, likely to be seduced into 
the exaggerations or distortions of either tendency, whether 
the aspect assumed by them be specious or threatening ; but 
nothing shall hinder us from paying avowed and honest respect 
to acknowledged truth. Thus, if the question be simply : Is 
genius, as such, exempt from the obligations of faith and 
morality ? — I am certain that you will agree with me in giving 
a decided negative. The man of genius is subject, like all 
others, to the eternal laws of humanity in all his proceedings ; 
his honour, his peculiar office, consist not in transgressing 
these laws, but in showing them forth, making them clear to 
the apprehension of others, and strengthening their influence 
on the present and the future race ; in aiding to promote "the 
triumph of true beauty in the universe," of that beauty, which, 
willed by God, is indissolubly connected with truth and good- 
ness; the triumph of the holy and the eternal. Were we to 
pronounce otherwise, it could only be on the supposition that 
men of genius form a peculiar species in the human family, 
and are exceptional, from then birth, in moral and religious 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



constitution. But for this we have not the smallest evidence. 
We have neither cause to regard them, in this sense, as pecu- 
liarly favoured individuals, exempt from the common necessity 
of struggle and development ; nor are we justified in con- 
sidering genius as a force of gravity, dragging its possessors 
down to earth, or as an impetus inevitably urging them into 
the career of passion ; as anything, in short, which necessarily 
loosens the common ties of humanity. I cannot express the 
pain which I felt when I read, in the words of a young poet, 
not without abilities, and a friend of yours, the unqualified ex- 
pression, "Poetry's signet is the brand of Cain;" for truly on 
the forehead of one marked out for poetry, or any other great 
intellectual task, shines somewhat very different from the 
brand of Cain. Thus men of genius, as such, stand neither 
above nor below the line of ordinary human responsibility in 
moral and religious matters. With them, as with other 
mortals, the measure of moral and religious capacities and 
susceptibility will be found to correspond to their intellectual 
power and they thus stand in the same relation as all others 
to God and His law. But this principle, in itself true and 
indubitable, must not be applied in an abstract, narrow, petty 
sense; and two considerations must always be borne in mind : 
— first, that we must not confound the work immediately 
committed to creative genius with the mediate results of its 
labours ; and next, that a distinction must be made between 
what may be called the spirit of a living, essentially Christian 
piety, and any definite code of faith and morals adapted to 
the necessities of the present time. Most certainly the Beau- 
tiful, considered in itself, cannot, in the remotest degree, form 
a contrast to the Good. When they are separated, it is attri- 
butable either to the imperfection of human nature, or to sin, 
or moral perversion of some kind ; but their origin is the 
same, for both are rooted in the Divine. God may as fitly be 
named essential beauty as essential good : love is beautiful in 
proportion as it is good and true : the idea of the Holy is 



12 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



involved in those of the True, the Good, the Beautiful. If 
this reasoning applies to Grod, the Archetype, it is equally true 
of the creation, which is the copy of his perfections. Moral 
perfection, by its vital energy and exact proportions, makes 
always the impression of beauty ; and the highest beauty will 
always bear the stamp of morality, and work upon those who 
receive it in the true spirit a moral, that is, an elevating, libe- 
rating, purifying effect. In this sense, the poet or artist 
who realises the ideal of his character, is ever at the same 
time a sage — the instructor of his people and of mankind, by 
cultivating that higher sense within them which is adapted to 
the perception of divine things ; he does this, however, not as 
a formal moral or religious pedagogue, in direct didactic wise, 
but as it were, unintentionally, through the pure worship of 
the beautiful, and by the life-giving inspiring influence, which, 
without effort on his own part, attends the labours of him who 
exercises this worship in a devoted spirit. For while his crea- 
tions reflect the world of the beautiful and the sublime, which 
in their essence cannot be separated from the true and the 
good, he can hardly fail of exercising a corresponding influence 
on piety and morality. He prepares the minds of men for 
the reception of the Ideal, and thus for that of the Good and 
the True. Much, certainly, depends on our allowing every 
work of art to operate upon us a whole, and submitting our- 
selves to the spirit of genius in its entireness. By this entire- 
ness alone can the effect which it aims at be comprehended ; 
and details, which, considered separately, bear, perhaps, the 
semblance of immorality, may, as subservient members of a 
higher organization, attain a perfectly moral character. If the 
work of art — the tragedy, for example — is to be an image or 
reflection of the world — an idealized reflection it may be, but 
still a reflection of the actual world — then must evil, since it 
exists in reality, be presented also in the work of art. But the 
representation, while confined within the limits of the beau- 
tiful, will be as far from corrupting or polluting a work of 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



13 



human art, as the actual evil in the world can destroy or 
pollute that sublime work of art ; provided always, that in the 
artist and his work that spirit predominates, which knows 
how to assign to evil and immorality then proper place, and 
to pronounce thereon, not in reflections or edifying speeches, 
but by the development of the subject — the judgment of the 
eternal Nemesis. This, too, we have a right to demand from 
creative genius : if it present the world to view, it must present 
also its highest order, and its inviolable laws ; if it conduct us, 
like Dante, to the gulf of hell, it must afterwards lift us to 
the heights of paradise ; if it paint the surface or the dark 
abyss of evil, we must, at the same time, perceive and learn 
thereby that the Divine and the Good are the true existences, 
the only permanently victorious principles. 

If we thus comprehend in this sense the whole of an intel- 
lectual production, the work of a poet or an artist, there is 
certainly once more a double possibility ; it may present itself 
to us, either as a spirit in close and joyful alliance with the 
Eternal and the Divine, with the world of spirit and of thought, 
with the everlasting laws of justice and morality ; or as one 
opposed, perhaps intentionally hostile to all these. In the first 
case our course is plain ; we can unhesitatingly pay to genius 
the deepest reverence, as to every ray of the Good or the Holy 
which sheds its cheering radiance on this mortal world. We 
need not stop to enquire whether the poet and his work are 
in exact accordance with our doctrinal views ; nay, we need 
not even enquire anxiously as to his faith in Christianity ; for, 
supposing him to belong to the ante-christian world, or even, 
though living under the Christian dispensation, not to have 
yet penetrated into the sanctuary of a living faith in the Ee- 
deemer; — whether by his own fault, or, as most frequently 
happens, by that of his age ; — he yet, in his works, paves the 
way for that faith ; inasmuch as all things beautiful and har- 
monious, all things bearing testimony, however generally, to 
the divine origin and immortal destiny of man, have some 



14 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



affinity with the highest truth ; are rays of that light, which 
dawned upon all mankind in Christ. No rational person will 
dispute, that we must keep our sense open to true beauty and 
grandeur, even when nurtured by a different religious soil; not 
only must Job and the Psalms be familiar to us, but we must 
keep unimpaired our full sensibility to the beauties of Homer 
and Sophocles ; however their ideas on moral and religious 
subjects may differ from our own, we cannot fail to perceive 
in them a deep, earnest sense of the Divine ; a sense which 
often breaks forth in expressions pregnant with the highest 
meaning. And though all the glorious works of antiquity 
had their source in views of the divine nature which we can 
no longer share, it would be unjust on our part not to dis- 
criminate between these errors and that inner meaning, em- 
bodied with such unsurpassable skill in those imperishable 
works of art; if the beauty of an Apollo or the sublimity of a 
Jupiter inspired no other feeling than that said to have been 
expressed by Pope Adrian VI., when shown for the first time 
the Museum of the Vatican, " They are idols of the heathen." 
But in the Christian world also we meet with representations 
of the beautiful, which are not, like the poems of Dante and 
Klopstock, addressed immediately to the highest Christian 
conception, but which yet, as true expressions of human 
nature, have their value and beneficial influence. For as 
piety should not close the eyes of men in general to the great 
free world of God, neither should it seal those of the artist 
or the poet, who are specimens of man in his fullest deve- 
lopment and consciousness. There is, indeed, a worldly art, 
which is as far from being impious or impure as that uncor- 
rupted nature of which it is the spiritual image. In the world 
we see, apart from what is evil, much which does not bear 
precisely the badge of faith or Christianity ; all things do not 
teach, preach, and edify ; some things are not even useful ; 
there are gay flowers and butterflies, and much besides which 
comes before us only as a sportive freak of fancy, and which 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



15 



yet could not be spared, if the world is to be rich and mani- 
fold as we find it ; if that something in the mind — so appa- 
rently lawless, yet so grand and orderly in its operations — 
which we call imagination, is to have its sphere of action. 
If G-od has not disdained to give these things a place in his 
creation, let us also allow to genius its free play of fancy, 
which gives gaiety and freshness to the often insipid world ; 
which frees the shackled and raises the depressed : let us 
permit the poet, if he brings his individuality with him, to 
expatiate unrestrained in dreams and reveries ; for, precisely 
because life is so serious, the complete harmony cannot 
be preserved without the light fantastic sports of jest, wit, 
and humour, whose lightning flash, like magic influence, 
clears the laden air. All this — I need only refer to Hippel, 
Claudius, and Hebel, — does not exclude higher things: an 
outpouring of genius, having no such purpose, and tending in 
quite another direction, will often excite and quicken, in a 
thoughtful mind, the idea of the divine : to him whose course 
is once directed upwards, anything may become a step of the 
ladder by which he climbs to the highest ; all is good which in 
the true sense is beautiful and lovely. But here we certainly 
have always . one thing to consider; not all poetical dreams and 
fancies are good ; this depends upon who is the dreamer, and 
what is the character and habit of that mind which forms the 
background to these bright or gloomy figures ; for here also 
may be said, to the pme all things are pure, but to the 
impure nothing is pme, and the offspring of such a mind will 
always retain some taint from their birth-place. What we 
have said must, therefore, be taken with the proviso that the 
general tendency of the gifted mind, in itself and its labours, 
be towards the eternal, the true, and the good; that it be 
characterized by what the ancients so strikingly denominated 
beautiful goodness. But how when the contrary is the case ? 
When the man of genius sets himself, like Prometheus, in 
opposition to divine authority; when the centripetal force, 



L6 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



which draws all created beings with mysterious attraction to 
the spiritual sun, is. overbalanced by the centrifugal force of 
selfishness, worldly-niindedness, or sin ; when genius, like the 
fallen child of a higher race, wanders the farther from the 
path of light, in proportion to the richness of its endowments 
and the sublimity of its original destination ? Shall we then 
still reverence it; and does the worship of genius embrace 
alike the good and the bad, if it be only powerful and com- 
manding ? Is this homage, the spiritual hero worship, at 
times also the worship of demons ? No, my friend, under 
these conditions we can assuredly not revere genius; for 
reverence is due only to that which in the fuller, even in the 
ethical sense, is an image of the Divine. But shall we im- 
mediately hurl against it a sentence of condemnation '? You, 
my dear friend, will agree with me in recommending mode- 
ration and warning against violence. In the first place, it is 
difficult to decide whether a mind has really entered upon 
this false course. The inner spiritual life of an individual 
has always its own impenetrable mystery, and so much the 
more in proportion to the elevation of the spirit which we 
seek to estimate. The higher and more original a mind is, 
the more strongly is it usually attracted towards the highest 
originating creative power. It is precisely in such a man 
that the conception of the eternal, once awakened, will be 
least likely ever to become extinguished. He may seek to 
escape from it ; he may cling with all his powers to the world, 
to temporal things ; he may do his best to concentrate him- 
self within his owd individuality ; an irresistible force will still 
draw him back to the fountain of his being, and thus will he 
become at variance with himself, or, as is usually termed, a 
divided mind. Our age is a period especially distinguished 
by these divided minds. Let us call up before us for a 
moment the greatest among them, the type of all those who 
really are, or who affect to be, at variance with God and 
themselves, — the world-renowned poet-lord. It cannot be 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 17 

denied: a spirit of opposition, of doubt, and misanthropy, a 
cold breath of hopelessness and of annihilation, pervades all 
his writings ; terror is his domain ; he gloats on the misery, 
the desolation of the human race ; — of hope, hiunility, sub- 
mission, the fundamental elements of piety, he knows little, 
But neither can we deny that his spirit is engaged in a 
struggle, an often painful and even convulsive struggle, after 
the Highest, for which it yearns with a longing desire never 
wholly appeased ; human life satisfies him so little, precisely 
because it seems to him so empty and forlorn, because it does 
not appear to him to contain the Eternal : precisely because he 
would fain love mankind quite differently, he feels himself 
driven into hate. Yet when, at certain moments, the innate 
perception of the Holy and Divine, the inextinguishable feeling 
for moral greatness and elevation, the eternal voice of con- 
science, awake in his soul, with what freshness and energy do 
they burst forth, and what an empire does he exercise over 
us ! His very rebellion against a superior sustaining power 
witnesses to the existence and influence of such a power, from 
whom even so powerful a genius, let him strive as he will, 
cannot escape. Who now would break the judicial rod over 
the head of such a man, and anticipate the judgment which 
the All- Wise has reserved to himself ? Even Lamartine, in 
the Ode to Byron which you have so admirably translated, 
knows not whether to address him as an angel or as a demon ; 
for even the pious French poet beholds in Byron only an 
erring and obscured ray of heavenly light ; and even lie hopes 
that one day this lofty soul, learning to know itself, and re- 
membering its original, may return to peace, to faith, and to 
love. However this may be, it always seems to me that a 
more liberal, noble, and pious disposition is indicated by 
thankfully appropriating whatever such spirits offer us of 
greatness and beauty, carefully separating what is impure or 
unholy ; and referring the individual to Him whose view com- 
prehends all spirits and their courses, and to whom every one, 



IS 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



even the highest, standeth or falleth. Here, certainly, the 
purely personal veneration for genius must find its limits ; 
for when we have ground for doubting whether a heavenly or 
a demoniac intelligence stands before us, when the lofty har- 
mony is interrupted by such harsh discords, no worship 
implying personal submission can be required from us. 

But in men of genius there is, however, a something, which 
we can in some measure distinguish from their personality ; 
they represent to us divinely-appointed powers of the 
universe, whose office it is to work more mightily the 
great machinery, and to give new impulses to life ; they are 
the " workmen for building up eternal things," few of whom 
abstain from contributing hay and stubble, but each of whom 
also inserts a stone which retains a place in the infinite 
temple ; they belong to the powers described by the poet : 

" Time's rushing loom they are seated before, 
To weave the Divinity's life-breathing robe." 

The impulse which proceeds from genius may be given 
with no such intention ; but as many inventions, which are 
originally designed only for the service and comfort of bodily 
life, are at last pressed in some way into the service of the 
spirit, and find their place in the promotion of God's king- 
dom upon earth; so, if a God guides man's history — and 
we cannot believe, either that it is not guided at all, or that, 
as has been lately said in jest, it is directed by the Devil — 
must the impulse given by genius finally operate in such 
a way as to promote good, and glorify God. In this sense it 
may, for instance, be good that the spiritual distraction of the 
age should find its poetical representative, and linking scepti- 
cism its scientific advocate ; for only thus can both be fully 
investigated, and the foundation laid, though at the risk of 
temporary and partial mischief, for an efficient and conclusive 
refutation. So far, therefore, as such ends are attained, we 
may view these great powers, even when we cannot approve 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



19 



their immediate operation, with the sympathising, wondering 
admiration with which a thunder-storm inspires us ; because 
they are of divine origin, and lead to divinely ordained re- 
sults ; and thus, rightly understood, fulfil a divine mission 
and serve a divine law, even though unconsciously, or perhaps 
unwillingly. 

But here also is it that the worship of genius, when of a 
rational and moral character, passes necessarily, as insufficient 
in itself, into something higher ; and thus vindicates its own 
truth, by dissolving into this better, absolute truth. If it 
attempts to set itself up as the highest, universal standard; 
if it pretends to the power of healing, unassisted, the deepest 
wounds of our age, it is always in some measure unsatisfac- 
tory; partly from the difficulty of defining its object, because 
it must always remain doubtful what men of genius are 
objects for veneration, and what in them really deserves it, 
partly from the impossibility of fully carrying out the prin- 
ciple ; for as soon as we contemplate genius in the deeper 
sense, in which alone it can claim universal reverence, as a 
divine manifestation and appointment, the worship of genius 
inevitably carries us on, beyond itself, to adoration of Grod. 
But when acknowledging its own subordinance, as but the 
introduction to something better, it has its own value, as 
something infinitely higher than senseless apathy, more noble 
than heartless ingratitude, and more liberal than that narrow 
religious and doctrinal bigotry, vwhich, measuring all things 
by one standard, would have all things in the world uniform, 
and all in art directly moral and edifying ; whereas genius, 
by its elevating and liberating influence, can and will prepare 
the mind for these higher workings of the Divine Spirit, 
which alone can give complete freedom. 

This, dear friend, is what I designed to remark on the one 
side, and I shall rejoice if what I have said corresponds in 
some measure to your views. But it is now time to turn to 
the other side, and contemplate steadily the falsity of the new 



20 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



worship. This becomes perceptible as soon as the worship 
of genius proposes itself as a substitute for religion — the 
Christian religion ; and for three reasons : because homage is 
not religion, because genius is not God, and because Christ is 
not merely a man of the highest genius. Here the worship 
of genius appears inferior and unsatisfactory ; for living piety 
assuredly stands higher than what is here called worship ; the 
adoration of God works more powerfully to free and to 
purify than the worship of genius ; the Christian faith makes 
Jesus its own, in a fuller, deeper, more consolatory sense, as 
the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, than that wor- 
ship which, in fact, only assigns to him the highest rank 
among men of genius. 

What, I say, is here called worship, is yet not piety, and is 
incapable of supplying the latter' s place, supposing it to be 
really wholly destroyed. Is it without reason that the name 
of worship, not of religion, was given to it by the acute man, 
who, if not the first to bring forward the worship of genius 
(for demonstrations of such a tendency may be traced, as we 
have before remarked, in the world and in literature, for some 
time before), has at least spoken out most freely and signifi- 
cantly ? Certainly not ; and unless I mistake, his reason was, 
that the phrase "Eeligion, or Adoration of Genius," would 
at once have drawn attention to its contradictory and unsatis- 
factory character. The expression "worship" has somewhat of 
a double and variable sense, In its primary signification of 
service, care, watchful and reverential attendance, it is applied 
to any human or created object of veneration as well as to the 
divine object of adoration, properly so called. In the latter 
sense, it denotes reverence, love, the sense of dependence, in 
their fullest meaning, manifested by certain acts, or by the 
whole life ; but in a wider sense it embraces the whole consti- 
tution of the religious life in particular ; and thus it happens 
that different religions, that is, different forms of piety, are 
called different worships. But if we examine the matter more 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



21 



closely, a very definite distinction exists between religion and 
worship ; their relation, on the one hand, is that of original and 
derived, cause and effect; and on the other, that of internal and 
external, soul and body. Exactly as ideas create for themselves 
expression, and the soul moulds to its use the body, yet this 
expression, this body, have neither life nor significance save 
through the higher principle dwelling in them ; — so a vigor- 
ous and decided piety will and must create for itself a form ; 
and this form has its life and significance only through the 
spirit poured out therein. When the relation is a proper and 
healthy one, the spirit of piety will bring forth a body (or 
worship) wholly corresponding to its own significance ; while 
the worship will be wholly pervaded by the spirit, as by an 
animating soul; soul and body will appear indissolubly blended. 
Such a worship is but an embodiment of devotion, and devo- 
tion is the spiritual truth of the worship. But this ideal state 
is rather one to be aimed at, than one which is ever likely to 
be realized. Many instances occur in history, where the spirit 
of piety has not been strong enough to create for itself a wor- 
ship; or, possessing this strength, has, like Christianity, long 
contented itself with the consciousness of its inward riches, 
without giving a thought to formal institutions ; or again, 
where the body has outgrown the soul, or remained an empty 
vessel, whence the spirit had evaporated. In the former case, 
the inward will be found to predominate in religion ; in the 
latter, the outward ; in the one, the principal stress will be 
laid on conviction, faith, morality ; in the other, on external 
services and the due observance of forms. If, taking this 
principle as our guide, we would draw a broad line of distinc- 
tion between the various manifestations of the religions life, 
there can be no doubt, that in Paganism the outward, in 
Christianity the inward, predominates ; while the latter re- 
ligion may be again subdivided into Catholicism and Protes- 
tantism, as types of the two extremes. On this account we 
may with especial propriety designate the heathen religions 



22 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



as worships, while the Christian is essentially faith and 
spirit; Catholicism claims especially to be a richly developed 
worship, while doctrine, conviction, reason, are the strong- 
holds of Protestantism. This distinction by no means im- 
plies that Protestantism has not its external forms, or Catho- 
lism its internal significance ; that there are not deeply pious 
Catholics, as well as merely ceremonial Protestants ; we speak 
only of the most prevalent characteristics of the two con- 
fessions. Thus the word worship neither expresses the 
highest tribute which can be paid to an object of reverence, 
nor is it the original, fundamental principle of religion; 
neither does it so include all the essentials of religion, as to 
warrant us in considering the two ideas identical. Much more 
strongly are the spirit's highest aspirations expressed in the 
word (restricted wholly to religious uses) adoration ; for wor- 
ship may be paid to those who are only comparatively supe- 
rior ; adoration to the absolutely perfect and highest alone. 
Thus the Catholic church wisely distinguishes between the 
adoration which belongs only to God, and the services which 
may be rendered to the saints. Even using both in a reli- 
gious sense, adoration, properly so called, is the higher, more 
comprehensive, more original • for though worship and adora- 
tion properly go together, the former is always derived from 
the latter, as the true, living expression of which it is alone 
valuable ; and the moral principle of religion, which predomi- 
nates in adoration, may be separated from worship. If we 
apply this to the point in question, we perceive plainly in the 
use of the word "worship" something enervating and delusive; 
since the fundamental principles of religion are not definitely 
expressed therein, but silently abandoned. The idea of vene- 
ration is substituted for that of adoration, for in the worship of 
genius adoration cannot be applied, as this would at once 
pass into idolatry ; that, therefore, which makes worship what 
it is, which alone gives to it a religious significance, is dropped. 
Neither is the moral element, which forms an essential part 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



23 



of religion, clearly expressed in the word worship ; for all the 
grave severe notions called duty, conscience, sin, guilt, punish- 
ment, and grace, are in no way requisites of worship, espe- 
cially the worship of genius; this is an excitement and an 
expression of feeling belonging properly to the sphere of 
sense; and although it exercises a vivifying and elevating 
influence upon the spirit, the internal disposition and con- 
stitution of mind remains in many cases what it was before. 

Now, then, the question arises, whether our spirit can per- 
fectly and permanently content itself with such a shadowy 
semblance of religion, in which the main element, adoration, 
is wanting. To what are we urged by that impulse which 
impels man to piety, to religion ? Is it not, to draw near to 
something high, venerable, spiritually-imposing? — and by 
gazing on this object, to elevate ourselves ? Is it not, as 
Gothe, in one of the most beautiful of his latter poems, ex- 
presses it, " to give ourselves up voluntarily, for gratitude's 
sake, to a higher, purer Unknown"? Well, this also is reli- 
gion, but not that religion which answers to the highest 
sense of the idea ; this does not remain satisfied with, the 
comparatives higher and purer, nor even with the superlatives 
highest and purest, but passes at once over all degrees, to 
the absolute. Our nature, which feels itself, notwithstanding 
its inborn strength, a conditional existence, which gave to 
itself neither life nor the laws of that life, but has received 
both, longs not only for something higher, but for the uncon- 
ditional, the primal fount of life and being ; our spirit, which, 
notwithstanding its own imperfection and that of all which 
surrounds it, bears within the idea and the inextinguishable 
desire of perfection, requires not merely something more per- 
fect and more pure, but finds its entire satisfaction only in the 
absolutely perfect and pure, the Holy One, the essential Ideal 
of truth, love, and beauty. For a time, the human mind 
may be detained on the lower stages, and content itself, as in 
the various forms of paganism, by venting its religious im- 



&4 



THE "WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



pulses upon the conditionally sublime and beautiful in nature, 
or the relatively perfect in humanity ; and at this stage reli- 
gion becomes peculiarly worship, nature and hero worship ; 
but though such a state of things may endure for thousands 
of years, the time arrives at length, and is usually heralded 
by prophetic spirits, when the might of religious yearning 
breaks through to the knowledge of the Highest, the incom- 
parably Perfect ; or, to speak more correctly, when the Divine 
manifests itself to mankind in fuller reality. And when the 
Divine Nature has taken its place as the absolute perfection 
in man's mind, he contents himself no longer with mere vene- 
ration, but, overpowered by the infinite sublimity and blessed 
majesty of God, bows before him in the dust, and adores 
him. This adoration, as soon as it becomes general, certainly 
takes also a definite form, and shows itself as worship. 
But adoration always remains the root, the vital principle, 
and maintains its superiority, as something far higher and 
deeper, over what we call veneration. When once this point 
is attained, the mind can no more descend to the lower stage 
of worship without adoration; or should it do so, the step 
would be backwards, not in advance; no sign of strength, 
but of exhaustion. If, therefore, as is plain, adoration is 
inapplicable to genius, and if the expression, worship, can 
stand in this connexion, only for veneration without adora- 
tion, then the worship of genius is obviously a lower stage of 
the religious life than that on which we have hitherto stood ; 
nay, when the higher has once been attained, the lower can 
no longer be named religion at all. It must, inasmuch as it 
is an apotheosis of what is highest in humanity, a spiritual 
hero worship, be considered rather a revived paganism ; this 
is openly avowed even by its champion; but while the ancient 
idolatries, being natural and unconscious, had a certain cha- 
racter of innocence, the same excuse cannot be alleged for 
the modem one, though comparatively more elevated and 
spiritual ; since this sets up itself in opposition to a knoten 



THE "WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



25 



higher object, and strives to re-embody a long-surpassed 
phase of the religious life. 

If, in this light, worship is incapable of supplying the place 
of adoration, still less can genius fill the place of God. Truly, 
"genius" is a great word; it denotes the highest, the original, 
the creative principle of the human mind ; that active power, 
governed by fixed laws, yet breaking forth irresistibly in one 
particular direction, by means of which it can call up forms 
and images wholly new ; and whose creations, presenting truth, 
goodness, or beauty, in a perfection never before witnessed, 
seize irresistibly on the mind. But however sublime may be 
the idea which the word " genius " awakes in our mind, 
something infinitely greater arises before us at the short and 
simple word "God;" and though centuries have pondered 
upon the idea denoted by those few letters, we cannot believe 
that it is yet exhausted, or has lost its power over the 
mind ; we cannot believe, what some imagine, that this idea 
need ever be dispossessed of its supremacy, and another 
substituted in its place, if the human mind would rise to 
the highest and truest object of reverence. The word "God" 
still is, and must remain, the highest problem for the 
thinker, the watchword of hope to the pious, the thunder- 
bolt for the sinner ; an influence which the name of genius 
will never attain. Shall we, however, dear friend, examine 
more closely what relation these two ideas, "genius" and 
"God," bear to each other, as objects of veneration? It 
cannot have escaped your notice, that, as in the word " wor- 
ship," so also in the expression " genius," when the two are 
united in the phrase "worship of genius," lies something 
indefinite and two-sided. This genius, which they bid us re- 
vere, are we to understand by it that good spirit by which 
man, as a race or as an individual, is never wholly forsaken ; 
which, like a guardian angel within, preserves from destruction 
and encourages in goodness (in which sense we speak of the 
genius of the human race, of a nation, or of an individual) — or 



26 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



the powers of genius with which mankind is endowed, ideal- 
ized as a whole ; — or the individual possessors of such powers? 
And if the latter, in what department of talent must we seek 
the objects of our worship ? Among artists and men of sci- 
ence? — among legislators and founders of empires? — among 
religious reformers ? or are we to embrace, in our veneration, 
every department, including even the abstract sciences — me* 
chanics and military tactics ? What is it that we are to rever- 
ence in men of genius ; their high endowments, their personal 
qualities, or their performances ? or all these combined ? And 
where is the intellectual line which divides genius from talent ; 
— where the moral boundary which separates genius, worthy of 
veneration, from that which is unworthy ? The article on " The 
Transient and the Permanent in Christianity," shows plainly 
that it is not genius in an abstract sense, but collectively, that 
is, as manifested in all individuals of genius, to which our vene- 
ration is to be addressed ; and in these, again, less the gift of 
genius thanits exercise, in freeing mankind from some oppressive 
mental burden, or promoting, by some favourable impulse, their 
higher development. Still the question remains veiy difficult ; 
and at all events, a worship, the very conception of which is 
so perplexing ; of which the object is so indefinite ; which 
requires so many limitations, and is of so artificial a character, 
scarcely appears fitted to exercise a religious influence. But, 
in order to define the relation of genius, in this sense, to the 
former object of adoration, the great question is, whether the 
worship of genius is meant tJieistically or pantheisticalhj . If 
theisticaUy — that is, if it acknowledges, as the creative source 
of these highly-gifted spirits, whom we call men of genius, a 
personal, conscious, Original Mind — then, to be consistent, it 
must resolve itself into adoration of this God. If employed, on 
the contrary, in a pantheistic sense — that is, if it refers the 
origin of individual manifestations of genius, only to what it 
calls the Absolute or Universal Spirit, which, in itself neither 
personal nor conscious, can become so only when embodied in 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 27 

certain human beings ; the very idea of whose existence and 
operations involves such a human manifestation ; — then arises 
the more difficult question, how far such views are warranted 
by truth, and whether, on such a basis, religion, in the full 
sense of the word, is possible ? In my opinion, however, the 
worship of genius can bear none other than a pantheistic sense ; 
for, unless the idea of a supreme, personal God be abandoned, 
what need can there be for seeking the divine essence only in 
the world, and chiefly in the brightest points of the intellectual 
world ? Nor must we be deemed captious in thus applying the 
term pantheism, since the champion of genius-worship, in the 
preface to " Two Friendly Letters," most plainly and distinctly 
excludes the idea of God, otherwise than as an all-pervading 
spirit. But if this divine essence or absolute spirit exists 
only as manifested in the world, then God must indeed be 
every where and in all parts of the world, but more especially 
in what is most spiritual : men of genius must thus be the 
lucent points of that divine glory which pervades all things. 
If pantheism would be pious, and its piety not wholly vague 
and objectless, — or a worship of the universe, which is, in 
their interpretation, identical with that of God, — nothing re- 
mains, after the annihilation of natural religion, but the wor- 
ship of the Intellectual, of Genius. Here, then, we have the 
natural result of pantheism ; and may thank those who, follow- 
ing it out to its ultimate consequence, have made the thing so 
obvious, and warranted us in giving to it its true designation. 
Am I now, my friend, to enter with you upon the great area 
of contention for the present age, — the distinctions between 
theistic and pantheistic views ? This would not be possible 
within the limits of the present communication. I know, also, 
that you share my conviction, that pantheism, though a good 
corrective for the cold, lifeless form which theism has, at 
certain periods, assumed, solves the problem of existence no 
better, and satisfies the religious feeling far less, than a theism 
like that of Christianity, which recognizes at once the indivi- 

c 2 



38 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



dual personality of the Deity and His all-pervading presence. 
But there is one side of the question to which I must now 
direct your attention. You yourself say, in your speech, 
"Nothing calls us more powerfully to adore the living God, 
than the appearance and embodiment of genius upon the 
earth. Whatever, in the ordinary course of things, we may 
choose to attribute to the mechanical process of cause and 
effect, the Highest manifestations of intellect can be called forth 
only by the express will of the Original Mind, independent of 
secondary causes ;■ — genius descends among us as from the 
clouds, precisely when we least look for it. Events may be 
calculated, predicted, — spirits never; no earthly oracle an- 
nounces the appearance of genius ; the unfathomable will of 
the Creator suddenly calls to it — 'He' ! " This always seems to 
me to involve one of the strongest proofs of a God, — all-pre- 
sent, indeed, but personal and conscious. But I would give 
another application to the thoughts which you have here ex- 
pressed. I mean not to appeal to the witness borne by men 
of genius themselves, the greatest and most influential of whom 
have ever acknowledged and adored such a God; — no, the 
very existence of genius is the best proof on that point. 
Genius is what it is. entirely through that mysterious some- 
thing which is called personality ; it is no vague abstraction, 
power, or spirit, but a living individual quality, operating 
from a definite centre ; conscious, free, and capable of self- 
regulation; exercising a stimulating, inspiring, governing 
influence over less powerful and original natures. Therefore, 
when we would do homage to a man possessing this gift, the 
only appropriate testimonial, is the erection of a statue, which 
shall bring back to us, as far as possible, his bodily presence ; 
whereas a foundation in his honour, such as would be very 
suitable in the case of a man of quiet usefulness, would be 
here wholly unsatisfactory. Yet this mysterious, fascinating 
attribute of genius — this personal influence, is not self-created 
or appointed, but derived mediately or immediately from some 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



29 



higher source. Can we then believe this originating, superior 
cause — whether we choose to call it law, power, or spirit — 
to be itself without personality ? If without personality, then 
can it not be superior ; for it is impossible for our reason to 
connect the idea of perfection with any impersonal existence : 
we rather require, to embody that idea, the fullest, completest, 
most conscious individuality. And where, again, are we to 
seek the cause of personality ? In an impersonal, universal- 
essence? or in some unknown transition state, where, we 
know not how or why, the universal passes into the individual, 
and the absolute essence, by some chemical process, condenses 
into atoms, which play awhile in the sunshine of life, to melt 
once more into the Universal ? No ; as surely as individual 
spirits exist, and those especially which are gifted with genius 
derive from this individuality their highest influence, so surely 
must there be an individual Originating Spirit. Without a 
personal God, genius remains an inexplicable riddle. But 
another still more striking point claims our attention. You 
say with justice, " Events may be calculated, spirits never ; no 
oracle of this world can predict then appearance." Certainly, 
human wisdom must here be silent. Yet even for spirits some 
periodical law must exist; — these mighty minds doubtless 
form a part in the stupendous calculations by which the uni- 
verse is governed ; were they wanting, the whole plan would 
be deranged. We can even trace, in the periodical appear- 
ance of men of genius — in the variety of their endowments, 
by which they counterpoise and compensate each other, a 
pervading, wondrous law^ a deep-thoughted order. In this 
law, more sublime, as it seems to me, than those merely physi- 
cal laws of motion, by Avhose gigantic mechanism the course 
of the stars is regulated, we discover the deepest, fullest, most 
conscious design ; a design, whose vastness is equalled only by 
the power which has called this law into operation. Can we 
now rationally suppose that such an order is self-appointed, 
— such a law self-given ? or are we not inevitably directed to 



30 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



a Huler and Lawgiver, who lias summoned Genius into being, 
no less than the star of morning — who has measured to both 
their course, — to the one, its fixed, immutable path ; to the 
other, its free, voluntary agency ? This infinite design is, then, 
assuredly in the world, the vital principle of its two elements, 
matter and spirit ; and no man of faith and reflection will 
imagine a God, who, dwelling beyond his own world, impels it 
only from without ; and from time to time interposes to aid or 
repair the halting machinery. But to recognize the presence 
of God in the world, and to conceive of him as existing only 
in the world, are two different things ; doubtless He, like his 
emanation, genius — while living in, and pervading his works — 
has still a distinct, independent existence. Shall the artist of 
the universe be less individual and self-sufficing than the 
earthly craftsman; and while the one retains, in his own 
person, a superabounding fund of life and power, soul and 
imagination, beyond what is embodied in his works, shall the 
other be wholly absorbed in His creation ? Shall He not, 
though breathing the fulness of His love and his spirit into 
the world, yet say, "lam that lam?" 

If we have once risen thus, led by the very hand of genius, 
to the conception of the living God, we shall never again 
descend from adoration of Him to the worship of genius. 
Genius can give us nothing but as the medium of God's 
goodness; — God gives us much which genius is powerless 
to bestow. We call genius divine, and ascribe to it creative 
power. Well, it certainly so re-combines the materials within 
its reach as to approach, in some degree, to tins divine 
faculty ; but if we speak of creative power, properly so called, 
that of genius, as of every human being, stumbles at a blade 
of grass, a grain of sand ; while the true Creator scatters forth 
worlds like seed, and knows not fatigue. That which we 
call divine in genius is but a richer share of those gifts in 
which every mortal partakes ; — a few rays from the divine 
essence. Piety, then, when fully developed, will always aspire 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



31 



to this object of entire and undivided veneration ; here only 
she finds that satisfaction which genius fails to supply — an 
all-embracing, unwavering omnipotence, governing the universe 
— an unassailable holiness,- the type and model of the uni- 
verse — an infinite all- wise love, to whom she may abandon her- 
self with unquestioning submission. Only towards God can the 
feeling of Iranian dependence assume such a character as shall 
elevate him who feels it, and become his surest support in all 
the sufferings and struggles of life. Were religion only an 
exquisite intellectual diversion, a poetry of life, then might we 
devote our allegiance to genius ; but her influence is shed over 
the deepest, bitterest realities, over the dry prose of life ; she 
comes to the weary and heavy laden. When man beholds all 
mortal pleasures vanish, — when his best hopes prove delusive, 
and every foundation gives way beneath his feet, — when he is 
oppressed by the sense of his own crimes, offences, short- 
comings, — when he kneels by the dying bed of those who are 
dearest, — when his own last hour draws nigh, — then will it 
avail little to look up to genius ; — then the smitten, breaking 
heart needs a different comforter, — then there is no help but in 
that name which has ever been the refuge of all the pious — 
which has been meant even by those who had never learnt to 
pronounce it ; — the name of the living God — the assurance 
of His holy presence, His all-helping love. And this faith 
operates not alone to soothe and satisfy ; it exercises also a 
moral influence, wholly different from that of genius. Genius 
speaks to our intellect — God to our conscience ; — genius ele- 
vates — God humbles, chastises, sanctifies us ; He reconciles us 
with ourselves and with Himself, — He grants us, by com- 
munion with Him, forgiveness of sin — faith in the benevolence 
of His purposes — willingness to submit to and co-operate with 
them. No worldly, mortal relation, though of the highest 
and most intellectual character, has the moral power of true 
piety ; which yet is not mere morality ; but, though an essen- 
tially distinct principle, is indissolubly connected with it. In 



32 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



one word, genius cannot supply the place of God ; its most 
sublime office is to reveal to us the truly divine — -to raise us 
to the Primal Mind. And this is the real meaning of the gifted 
man, whom I have instanced above as a precursor of the 
worship of genius — our Jean Paul. Por when he says, "In- 
tellectual greatness should remind us of the Greatest ; and 
admiration, of prayer," he obviously has no thought of sub- 
stituting genius for God ; but only the hope, that individual 
genius, or any monument which recals to memory the greatest 
of our race, would remind man of God's glory, and awaken 
or quicken the adoration of Him. 

May I venture, my friend, to detain you yet a moment, to 
make a farther observation on what has been already said ?■ 
That is, if worship Cannot supply the place of adoration, or 
genius, of God, the same proposition holds true of the two 
taken together ; genius is not capable of acting as a substi- 
tute for the adoration of God, for true religion. Living- 
piety is a spirit of entire, unconditional devotion ; an unques- 
tioning submission to the divine will, seeking safety and hap- 
piness, with boundless confidence, in God's love alone. This 
sublime feeling can never belong to the worship of genius ; 
for towards genius, even of the highest order, we always 
retain the consciousness of having to do with fellow-men, 
imperfect and sinful like ourselves ; our veneration must 
always remain of a qualified, conditional, limited nature ; the 
full resignation of faith can have no place there. The one is 
formed by man ; by the other, man is formed. The one, as 
the product of human intellect, is subservient to that intellect : 
the other, being of divine origin, claims absolute superiority. 
Nor does the influence of true religion excel every other in 
intensity only, but in extent ; it not only commands, at one 
moment, the whole spiritual being, but retains its power 
through the whole course of existence, over every moment of 
the spiritual life. It appeals to the thinking faculty of man, 
no less than to his heart and his conscience ; theory, aesthetics. 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 33 

ethics, are therein indissolubly united. This is not the case 
with the worship of genius ; aesthetic in its origin, theoretical 
in its development, it wants the full ethic power ; and though 
it may occasionally exercise a moral influence, its operations 
are too secondary and too feeble to be compared with the 
mighty workings of religious faith. Religion, when of a sound 
and healthy character, is applicable to every condition and 
circumstance of life. She is, when allowed her full rights, the 
heart, the regular pidse of the whole being. Nothing is too 
mean for her to sanctify and illumine ; nothing too encroach- 
ing and absorbing for her to reduce within fitting bounds. 
Not alone in moments of spiritual excitement and elevation, 
but also in those of depression and deepest sorrow, the 
thought of God can soothe, reconcile, and bless. The worship 
of genius has not this all-sufficing power ; the poetic excite- 
ment can endure only in moments of exaltation ; when these 
are over, the poetry gives place to a dull prose, to a vacancy 
uncheered by the consciousness of God's presence. Religion 
is simple, wholesome food — the bread of spiritual life, always 
nourishing and palatable ; the worship of genius is a stimulat- 
ing, highly-seasoned dainty, agreeable at times, but incapable, 
when the soul longs for the highest good, of affording per- 
manent sustenance. The same holds good of communities, no less 
than of individuals. Religion, even in its lowest stages, has 
a tendency to bind men together, to unite them into brother- 
hoods ; and, in its absolute consummation, must be all em- 
bracing, satisfying the human mind in every state of progress. 
Uniting the Deity with humanity, earth with heaven, it is 
also a fraternal tie between the highest and the lowest, the 
weakest and most gifted of mankind ; even those of different 
degrees of religious advancement stand, as it were, on an 
equality in their infinite distance from the Deity. But this 
worship of genius, for whom is it ? Its advocate himself says, 
" For the cultivated of our age." It is the religion of the 
cultivated. The uncultivated are thus at once excluded ; and, 

c 3 



34 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



indeed, those who can scarcely read, who know little of the 
deeds of great men, would voluntarily withdraw from it. 
But who are the cultivated? Those who, because they can 
read, hold themselves as such ? Among these, again, we find 
numbers who are incapable of appreciating genius, who cannot 
enter into that enthusiasm which its worship requires. These, 
then, again, must be excluded. And lastly, for men of genius 
what religion- remains ? We other mortals, not possessing 
genius, yet cultivated and susceptible, revere genius ; but men 
of genius? — shall they revere themselves, or have they no religion 
at all ? Thus religion, which should be the bond of union be- 
tween all, would become, as the worship of genius, the cause of 
the greatest dissension ; withdrawing- from the heights and the 
obscure vallies of humanity, it would entrench itself on a middle 
ground, difficult to be denned ; thfc few possessors of genius 
would stand above religion, the vast body of the uncultivated 
and apathetic below ; the former would perhaps vibrate 
between the worship of themselves — of the so-called God 
within their breast — and that of genius in the aggregate ; the 
latter, knowing nothing of genius, and incapable of revering 
it, would be deprived of the bread of spiritual life, at the same 
time that they are perhaps scantily supplied with bodily 
nourishment. This, my friend, is a state of things which 
we can none of us desire ; an aristocracy of the worst kind, 
which, though proposed as a remedy for the decay of reli- 
gion among the cultivated, would lead to their ruin, as well 
as to that of the uncultivated. 

I might here well stop to enquire the precise manner in 
which the worship of genius is to be practised, for its advo- 
cate has contented himself with suggesting the idea in the 
most general terms. We are, therefore, left free to suppose 
it either a solitary inward worship, in the enjoyment of works 
of art, in the recollection of great deeds and great men, or a 
social homage rendered to exhibitions and monuments of art, 
or perhaps offered in a pantheon of great men. But I will 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



35 



not dwell on this point, for in whatever light we consider the 
subject, it is always more or less unsatisfactory. 

But I have still, my dear friend, one word to say upon the 
last, and here, perhaps, most important point, — on the propo- 
sition — Jesus is not merely a man of the highest genius. 
Christianity comprehends him more correctly and reveres him 
more suitably as the world-redeeming Son of God, than that 
worship which in fact places him only at the head of men of 
genius. Let us first consider in what sense this worship is 
to be applied to Christ. The intention of its supporters 
appears to me this. While Christ is ranked among men of 
genius, on account of the strength and harmony of his in- 
tellectual powers, and the mirror-like clearness of his soul ; on 
account of his devoted, indefatigable labours for a great idea, 
the unequalled spiritual influence which he exercised, and the 
incomprehensible Avorks which he performed ; they do not 
design to deprive him of his attributes as Son of God and as 
Redeemer, but only to give to these a more extended signifi- 
cation. All sublimely inspired men are sons of God ; David 
and Solomon, nay, even Homer and Phidias, may be so called ; 
and with these Christ, who thought it not robbery to be 
equal with God, need not hesitate to share Iris dignity. All 
are redeemers who succeed in that at which preceding 
generations have laboured in vain, who deliver humanity 
from a want, a difficulty ; in this sense Socrates, Phidias, 
Alexander, and Copernicus have earned the title ; but they 
still reserve, it is said, a peculiar place of honour for Christ. 
It must not be forgotten that there are many degrees of 
veneration ; the labourer is estimated by the extent, difficulty, 
and value of his labour. Inventors rank higher than re- 
formers ; creative minds in art and science stand above the 
authors of inventions applicable to material life ; those who 
promote the mind's development in some of its powers are 
inferior to those who aid in unfolding all its capabilities, by 
placing life in its true relation to the Deity. Thus, founders 



36 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



of religions stand foremost in the band of gifted minds ; and 
Christianity being acknowledged as the most perfect religion, 
to its founder belong the first-fruits of that veneration which 
we offer to genius. Christ would thus be the first — but 
how ? — among those of similar pretensions ? — classed with 
men on whom rests so many a guilty stain ? Here another 
distinction is made by Schleiermacher between those men of 
genius who are impelled to realise their conceptions externally, 
in art and science, in deeds of war or peace ; and those who, 
dwelling within themselves, labour to perfect then own 
nature, as a moral, spiritual, work of art. The latter are not 
only more harmoniously endowed and developed, purer and 
more worthy of love ; they are also of a higher order, for man 
is for human beings the greatest work of art. A genius of 
this class was Socrates, who, without attaining artistic per- 
fection in any one department of intellect, was greater, as the 
artist of life, than any whose external productions are the 
admiration of the world. As natures of this kind are usually 
conspicuous for piety, the heroes of piety, the founders of 
religions, belong especially to this class. In the fullest and 
highest sense is this the case with Christ. How great soever 
he might be in single outward acts, his greatness depended, 
not on these, but on the intimate union of his mind with 
God, through which he could say, " The Son does nothing 
of himself, but what he seeth the Father do;" "I and the 
Father are one ;" " No one knows the Father, but the Son ;" 
and, "No one cometh to the Father, but through the Son." 
In this inner life of love he found full satisfaction ; his only 
external impulse was its natural prompting, and this was to 
reproduce his own inner life in the life of man. Thus Christ 
not only stands higher in degree, but he belongs to a different 
class from those men of genius whom history celebrates in the 
departments of art and science, church and state. But, while 
he is the highest example which we know of the inner life, does 
not the possibility yet remain of his being hereafter surpassed ? 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



37 



Here our attention is called to an especial peculiarity possessed 
by religion. Certainly we often observe, in other domains of 
human excellence, that one is surpassed by another, only 
equally gifted, who succeeds him, because the latter occupies 
vantage-ground, from the progress of human development ; 
and in art and science it is impossible to define the highest 
attainable perfection. In religion, however, a point may 
be fixed, beyond which farther progress is impossible ; and 
this is, "that perfect union of the human with the divine 
character, through which the former, in all its emotions, 
responds to the latter, and knows and acknowledges this 
unison as the truest fulfilment of its own destiny." If Jesus 
lived in this perfect union with the Deity, and exemplified it 
in every word and deed of life, then by him was attained that 
highest point of religious progress which the future, however 
it may advance in other departments, can never surpass. 
But may not some successor attain the same, and thus place 
himself, as an individual, on a level with Christ ? But here, 
without urging the objection that the second who attains such 
a height must necessarily receive some aid from his prede- 
cessor, it is to be considered, that the first who experiences 
this intimate union of man with the Deity, must possess it in 
greater intensity than any successor; thus in Christ it was 
an all-pervading, all-absorbing influence, before which every 
earthly shadow vanished. Therefore, mankind could no 
more be what they are without Christ, than without religion ; 
for to conceive of religion without Christ, would be the same 
as to conceive of poetry without reference to the greatest 
poets. And this Christ is not a mythic, but a historic per- 
sonage ; — no symbol, but an individual ; — his history, how- 
ever, being valuable only as embodying, through the medium 
of his life, teachings, and sufferings, that principle in which 
consisted his religious perfection, and the unrivalled superiority 
of the Christian religion. 

This, my friend, is the sense in which, the worship of genius 



33 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



is applied, by its advocates, to Christ. Unquestionably it 
not only displays much acuteness and refinement, but assigns 
to Christ no unworthy station, as compared with that which 
other systems have allotted to him ; since it places him at the 
summit of human nature, and refers to him all possibility of 
religious progress in the world. It does much, by with- 
drawing religious veneration from the cold abstractions of 
ordinary rationalism, and bringing it back to reality, life, and 
history ; it acknowledges God, not merely as a hidden some- 
thing beyond our sphere, but as manifested in his attributes, 
through a human medium, in which they are willing to admire 
and glorify his perfections ; it does not deny that Christ is 
the highest individual manifestation of this impersonal Divine 
essence ; insisting, with justice, that the greatest marvel re- 
specting Christ consisted, not in this or that action, but in 
the individual perfection of his moral and religious character ; 
that the office of Christianity, therefore, is not merely to pro- 
pagate his doctrines, but, in a deeper and more comprehensive 
sense, to diffuse his spirit, to make his life the life of man. 
It thus grasps his character more fully than is done by that 
historical pragmatism, which would reduce his life and actions 
to a system of maxims and doctrine, without allowing for 
those innumerable and involuntary outpourings of inward 
riches which characterize genius. Yet this view is not only 
insufficient, but involves a secret contradiction ; since, in truth, 
we do acknowledge Christ as a genius, and, as the highest 
genius, occupying the highest station ; for this very reason 
we cannot remain here, but if we acknoAvledge him as the 
first among men of genius, must acknowledge him also as 
something mere. 

That this manner of estimating Christ is unsatisfactory, is 
evident to the sound understanding. As a leading proof that 
the worship of genius, even where unavowed, is the ruling 
impulse of the present age, the fact is adduced, that in all 
countries, and especially Germany, a disposition is shown to 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



39 



honour great men, sublime spirits, by statues and monuments ; 
and that though much that is ludicrous frequently mingles 
with this fashion, it has a substantial foundation, and is an 
important sign of the times. We cannot deny the truth 
which is contained in this assertion. But just suppose the 
idea were entertained of paying this honour to Christ, and 
raising a monument to his memory ; would not this, leaving 
other considerations out of the question, be the most ludi- 
crous manifestation of the monumental mama? It would 
have something of the same character as the well-known in- 
scription, wherewith Voltaire adorned the portal of the church 
which he had built :— " Erected to God by Voltaire." To 
Mm whose monument is the regeneration of the human race, 
no other can be erected ; and a name, engraved as no other 
is, not only on the tables of history, but in the hearts of men, 
would ill bear spelling out on the pedestal of a statue. Alex- 
ander Severus might think of building a temple to Christ - t 
he might place Christ's image in his private chapel, beside 
those of Orpheus, Abraham, and Apollonius of Tyana ; but 
he did this from his heathen preconceptions ; and his homage 
to Christ, approaching more nearly than anything in antiquity 
to the modern worship of genius, was of a truly pagan cha- 
racter. All Christendom, however, must immediately feel, 
that if many to whom monuments are raised are too small for 
such an honour, Christ is incomparably too great. Churches 
and cathedrals are erected, not with the idea that an honour 
is thereby rendered to God or to Christ, but to satisfy the 
religious necessities of man. Here it may be suggested : — 
all monuments are essentially of a national character, and 
require national sympathy ; but Christ, breaking through the 
bounds of nationality, belongs to all mankind ; and thus the 
very universality of the interest attached to him excludes the 
idea of a monument. Good ; — this is not unimportant ; and 
here again is a marked distinction between Christ and other 
men of genius, who all bear, more or less, a national stamp ; 



M) 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



for even Socrates, though the best example in the heathen 
world of universal human sympathy, was yet, at the same 
time, so far a Greek and an Athenian, that a monument raised 
to him by his people or his city would have been perfectly 
consistent. But the ground lies yet deeper. It lies in the 
feeling, so beautifully expressed in the words which you quoted 
from Schiller : — " If a man represents to us holiness, he must 
have majesty ; and if our knees do not bend, our spirits will 
fall prostrate before him." To the divine majesty of holiness 
we erect no memorial ; we reserve for it something different — 
infinitely greater ; — the devotion of heart and spirit, adoration . 

But this is not a matter appealing only to the pious feelings 
of Christians ; it is clear to the reason. If Christ was, as has 
just been acknowledged, the first genius in religion, how has 
he proved this superiority ? We have already shown that it 
was by attaining the highest imaginable stage of religious 
progress ; by realizing, to the fullest conceivable extent, the 
union of man with the Deity. But this point, in which I 
most fully agree with the speculative critics, is also the one 
where we the most decidedly differ. Taking their " perfect 
union" in the best sense which it will bear, it is still, to my 
mind, wholly different from what Christianity understands by 
this expression. Certainly, Christ, as is proved, not only by 
his words, " I and the Father are one ;" — C£ He who seeth me 
seeth the Father ; " — but by the whole course of his life, was 
fully conscious of this union ; but this consciousness is not 
to be understood merely as the knowledge of the actual iden- 
tity of the human and divine nature, but as something per- 
sonal and individual, something especially belonging to Christ. 
A_nd the religious views on which this opinion rests, are de- 
cidedly tkeistic, and have nothing in common with pantheism, 
however refined ; for the God with whom Christ knew himself 
to be one is not a divine essence pervading the world, for 
whose inward vital principle it is but another name, but a 
personal God, distinct from the world — a Father, who knows, 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



41 



hears, and loves his children, and reveals himself to them 
through Christ. But even this is allowed by the critic, in the 
preface to the "Two Friendly Letters;" he admits that 
Christianity rests upon the belief in God's personality ; he 
does not dispute, that the intimate union of man with God, 
as spoken of by Christianity, is meant, not of mankind univer- 
sally, but of Christ, the embodiment of perfect humanity, to 
whom alone belongs full participation in the divine nature ; 
also, that the Deity is to be acknowledged, not merely in his 
all-pervading presence, but in his special interpositions. But he 
maintains that the idea of Ins . absolute impersonality has, by 
degrees, taken root, even among the germs of truth contained 
in Christianity ; and, since Spinoza's time, has become the soul 
of modern life, poetry, and thought ; and this idea he would 
express somewhat as follows : — There is a God, but not one 
who, existing beyond the world, retains for Himself a portion of 
that individual existence, the superfluity of which He expends 
in the world ; on the contrary, He is in the world, and there 
only ; His inner being is hidden greatness — His manifestations 
are the same greatness contemplated from different points ; 
the visible world is glorified, not here and there, but through- 
out, by the presence of the invisible — the invisible, not parti- 
ally, but wholly transfused into the visible. Now, though these 
modern views may seem at variance with the representations of 
Christianity as to the peculiar, exclusive position occupied by 
the divine Man ; yet, it is maintained, all depends upon the 
more or less comprehensive view which we take of Christi- 
anity ; whether we lay most stress on its original form, or on 
its inward principle. If we define Christianity as that religion 
which recognizes the union of the finite with the infinite only 
at stated points, then the modern notion of an absolute union 
must appear decidedly unchristian; but if we look upon 
Christianity as best realized, the more completely such a union 
is attained, then the modem ideas may be deemed more 
Christian even than the original form of Christianity. This, 



4:2 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



my friend, is their openly avowed opinion ; but much is herein 
assumed, which I think that neither history nor theology 
warrant us in granting. In the first place, the assertion is in- 
correct, that Christianity rests upon the transcendental system. 
A religion whose deepest meaning is comprised in the de- 
claration, that man is of divine origin ; that in God we live, 
move, and have our being ; that of Him, through Him, and to 
Him, are all things ; that the spirit of God is poured out upon 
all flesh ; that God will make His abode with us ; that the 
believer, the congregation, is a temple of God : such a religion 
cannot possibly regard God as existing entirely beyond the 
world. The fact is, that Christianity insists especially on the 
all-pervading presence and influence of the Deity; but so 
qualified, as not to exclude the belief in His transcendental 
perfections, and independent existence. But the question of 
most importance here is not precisely that of immanence or 
transcendence, but that of the personality, self-consciousness, 
and absolute freewill of God. These attributes are recognized by 
Christianity ; but the speculations in question, notwithstanding 
the best endeavours of their supporters, are always unsatis- 
factory on this point. They appeal, on the other hand, to 
universal consciousness, and comfort themselves with the as- 
sertion, that pantheism is the soul of modern life, thought, and 
poetry. But can this proposition be demonstrated ? It may 
be true of the belief, that God has an animating existence and 
presence in the world, as well as beyond ; but is it so of the 
denial of God's personality, as distinct from his manifestations 
of his attributes in various individuals ? This I cannot be- 
lieve when I look at a considerable number of the philosophers 
in all countries — at the great majority of the theologians, and 
at the great body of the Christian world. Pantheism may 
have great influence, but cannot yet boast of victory. Yet 
granting the assumption, may not modern opinion be in 
error? Have not false notions been held by past times, 
which then were modern ? In fact, many strong and incon- 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



43 



trovertible proofs, not merely of a practical, but also of a theo- 
retical nature, as may be seen by many modern systems besides 
that of Hegel, may be adduced in support of the belief in a 
personal God, in the Christian sense ; and this belief, which 
has stood the test of centuries, is far froni being as yet ob- 
solete. Our hearts still yearn after the great Paternal Heart. 
Our moral sense feels entire satisfaction, only when assured 
of its intimate relation to a holy and all- wise Governor of the 
universe, who is to us a pledge of the final triumph of good ; 
our conscience irresistibly reminds us of Him to whose justice 
we must render account. That dark spot in man's history, 
the existence of evil and sin; the great questions of the 
world's origin and history, receive no more satisfactory solu- 
tion from the pantheistic conception of God as existing in 
the universe, and identical with the minds of men, than from 
the belief in him as perfect from the beginning, unchangeable, 
self-existing ; and, on the other hand, this belief affords the 
only substantial foundation for the peculiar dignity attributed 
by the Scriptures to Christ. Froni this foundation it is, in 
the argument above quoted, forcibly wrenched; but is it 
allowable, by the rules of fair reasoning, to force a doctrine 
thus from its original connexion, and then to profess that our 
own interpretation is the true and satisfactory one? It is 
maintained, that the union of Christ with God is the funda- 
mental principle of Christianity, and that Christianity is the 
absolute religion ; but a meaning is assigned to these words, 
different from that in which they are employed by Christianity, 
but which its advocates put forth as more Christian than 
Christianity itself. And how do they justify this ? By the 
following argument : — " To regard the peculiar relation of the 
divine Man to the rest of mankind as the special condition 
of Christianity, amounts to the same thing as maintaining, 
that freedom indeed existed in the Grecian states, but is ex- 
tinct among us, because the special condition of freedom is, 
the exclusive position of a number of free citizens as distin- 



44 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



guished from slaves." I will oppose example to example. 
To assume, as the special condition of Christianity, that not 
Christ, but all mankind, is the divine man ; and to uphold 
the latter as the more Christian doctrine, is the same as saying 
that a state, whose constitution is essentially monarchical, 
would be far more so, and more consistent, if all its citizens 
were kings ; or that an army, of which it is a necessary con- 
dition that it should have a commander, would be far superior 
if all commanded. And, indeed, the exclusive position of 
Christ, as distinguished from the rest of mankind, holds good, 
not only of himself, during the short period of his individual 
appearance on earth, but of Christianity in its permanent 
character. If we view it historically, we find but one in whom 
the hopes of the nations have been fulfilled, and the second 
birth of humanity exemplified ; if doctrinally, we can conceive 
of but one Lord and Master ; if as a heavenly kingdom, we 
know of but one Pounder and royal Head ; if as a system of 
redemption and atonement, we hear of but one who has died 
for all, and accomplished a universal atonement. In short, 
turn where we will, so long as we enquire respecting Christi- 
anity in its essential character, not in the theories which have 
been grafted upon it, — so long as we appeal to the unanimous 
feeling of the Christian world, — we find the peculiar position of 
Christ everywhere acknowledged ; and to wrest this from an 
individual to a universal application, would be taking the 
circumference for the centre. The theory, and the attacks of 
its supporters upon the original conception of Christianity, 
would be more plausible, if our assumption were, that the 
position of Christ was not only peculiar, but isolated. But 
Christianity, while vindicating the exclusive dignity of Christ, 
teaches also his intimate and indissoluble connexion, in his- 
tory and character, with the whole human race. His station 
as the divine Man is important, inasmuch as by his influence 
the same divine life is reproduced in others ; he became a 
Redeemer, because the world needed and was prepared for 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



4 5 



him, and because he awakened in others the faculty of redeem- 
ing and healing. In both characters, he first fully exemplified 
the capacity of human nature for becoming a vessel of the 
divine spirit, and assimilating itself to that spirit in all its 
manifestations. Thus the divine Man, the Redeemer, came, 
not as something wholly alien and preternatural — not, as the 
Gnostics dreamed, as a heavenly spirit of wholly different 
race, into a world naturally hostile to him — but to a race 
allied to him in proportion as they are allied to God ; to a 
race requiring his presence, and partaking his character in 
proportion to the influence of his life and spirit upon them. 

But there is yet, my friend, another side of the question, 
which cannot have escaped you. The union of Christ with 
God, as originally taught by Christianity, is not merely per- 
sonal and individual, but such as coidcl take place only by the 
immediate exercise of the divine will. As a necessary conse- 
quence of the pantheistic theory, the divine and human na- 
ture must be considered identical ; the one exists only in the 
other; the difficulty would be, not in admitting that God 
once manifested Himself as man, but in supposing this to 
have only happened once ; since in such manifestations, accor- 
ding to their views, He has His only real existence. For 
the idea of redemption, as an especial, voluntary communi- 
cation from the. Deity, through an appointed individual, to a 
sinful race, there is here no room ; but if the word redemption 
be used, it may, on this system, be applied in two senses : 
thus, God redeems man by making known to him his iden- 
tity with the divine nature ; but, at the same time, men re- 
deem God, since only in them can he exercise his attributes, 
or be conscious of his existence. The view taken by Christi- 
anity is of course wholly different : it is by no natural neces- 
sity, but by a free act of creative grace, that the fulness of 
the Godhead has been displayed bodily among men; the 
union of the divine with the human nature is not one of 
which the very consciousness of its possibility makes us par- 



46 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



takers, but must be effected by a peculiar process. Christi- 
anity, in the very admission that the human nature was ori- 
ginally adapted to this union with the divine, involves the 
idea of some obstruction, which must have interposed be- 
tween this original design and its accomplishment ; that 
obstruction, wholly left out of view by pantheism, — sin. If, 
as history proves, this evil influence had obtained complete 
dominion over man, his immediate union with God becomes 
out of the question ; the power of sin must be first van- 
quished, annihilated within him. But this, from the very 
state of subjection in which he is held, cannot be effected by 
his own effort ; but must be the work of that Being alone, 
whose very nature renders Him unassailable by sin, and 
supreme over it. The individual, therefore, through whom 
the Deity opens, as it were afresh, His intercourse with human 
nature, becomes necessarily the Redeemer, not from one 
special spiritual burden, pressing on one particular period, 
but from the burden which weighed down the whole human 
race ; the atonement which he effects is that of mankind with 
their holy Creator ; and in this character we again see him 
invested with a special and unrivalled importance and 
dignity. 

It is in this character that, amongst all minor differences, the 
faith of all Christendom hangs upon Christ ; and there can be 
no doubt that this interpretation expresses the original inten- 
tion of Christianity, of Christ himself, far better than the new 
worship, which assigns to him only the first place among 
men of genius. But even here this worship seems to me 
inconsistent with itself. Eor if we recognize Christ, in the 
fullest sense, as the highest religious genius, we must surely 
do so in the sense which he himself claims. Now he claims 
to be the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world ; and as 
such, to rank above all men of genius. But if the grounds 
on which he founds this claim — his conception of God's 
character, and of his own relation to him — are wholly un- 



THE WORSHIP OF GENIUS. 



47 



substantial, it is not clear how he can be reckoned among 
the greatest possessors of genius, far less how he can be placed 
at their head. How can we receive, as the highest genius in 
that department of knowledge most important to mankind, 
one whose own spiritual office, if we would understand it 
rightly, and accord to it a permanent influence, must be taken 
in a sense wholly different from his own ? But that the 
Christian idea of Christ is the correct one, is proved (as I 
have endeavoured, in my answer to Strauss, to show) by the 
unequalled impression produced by his life and character, both 
on their immediate witnesses, and on us, through the simple, 
unstudied gospel narratives ; by the influence of his mission, 
which has extended over the whole history of the Christian 
church, and is still felt individually by each one of us ; by its 
harmony with the deepest wants of the human heart and 
spirit ; with the idea of perfection which before slumbered in 
our minds, but which, by Christ's appearance, has been awak- 
ened to reality and consciousness. 

If what has been said be true, — and that it is so, millions, 
however differing in expression, will bear witness; if man 
requires not merely a worship of intellectual excitement and 
luxury, but an adoration, which humbles, sanctifies, and 
morally regenerates him ; if genius, which — in proportion to 
its elevation and purity, points to its divine Original — can 
indeed bear witness to the all-mighty, all-holy, all-loving One, 
but never supply his place ; — if Christ, though his endowments 
may be not unaptly compared with those of genius, stands, 
in his peculiar personal dignity, higher than all men of genius ; 
— if he alone can give the weary and heavy laden to drink of 
the waters of life freely, then the last horn has not yet struck, 
either for what we have hitherto called religion, or for the 
Christian faith in particular. The external form, the outward 
observances, may alter ; the spirit, the essence must remain. 
The Ancient of Days will hold his rule; — Christ will not 
decend from the throne which he occupies as the world- 



48 



THE WOESHIP OF GENIUS. 



redeeming Son of Cfod, to take place, as an equal, in the 
ranks of men of genius ; but, though he hold nothing alien to 
him that belonged to humanity, he will always remain the only 
one who, himself holy, could feel no shadow interposed be- 
tween him and the God with whom he was united, and by 
whom he is, consequently, eternally glorified. 

In this confidence let us go to meet futurity ; — the signs of 
the times may be threatening ; but whatever be our lot, the 
best and highest cannot be taken from us. Meanwhile, in 
all the changes of time, I remain, in true love, thy devoted 

ULLMANN. 



Heidelberg, July 2Mh, 1839. 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



THE MODERN " WORSHIP OF GENIUS " AND THE ANCIENT 
GENII-WORSHIP. 

All things in which there is any sense, must not only 
possess a certain degree of internal consistency, but also be 
connected with other things ; only that which is wholly 
irrational stands entirely remote and isolated. In so far, 
therefore, as the worship of genius contains a rational 
meaning and a comparative truth — for if it were, as some 
say, pure nonsense, there would be little sense in arguing 
the matter polemically ; far less, in a refined and polite style 
of polemics — in so far, then, as it possesses sense and truth, 
something similar must have preceded it ; but doubtless in a 
different form, since nothing under the sun returns in the 
same shape. Accordingly, we find, between the modern wor- 
ship of genius, and the ancient worship of men of genius, a 
certain affinity, and at the same time a pervading difference. 

The ancient notion on the subject may be thus briefly ex- 
pressed : the nations of antiquity, especially the Greeks and 
Romans, amongst other modes by which they, so to speak, 
realized to themselves the connexion between gods and men, 
placed between them beings of a middle nature ; who, like 
the angels of monotheism, though superior to men, were in- 
ferior to the divinities whose character they in some measure 
shared. These were supposed to preside, as special friends 
and guardians, over human life ; protecting sometimes indi- 
viduals, sometimes communities. Thus, they conducted the 
soul of an individual from a higher sphere to this lower 

D 



50 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



world, prepared for it its bodily garment, guided it through 
life, and assisted its transit to another state of being ; or they 
were the originating, animating, protecting powers of entire 
communities. These genii were also supposed to represent 
the original type, the purest spiritual existence, of those indi- 
viduals to whom they belonged ; thus even the gods had in 
this sense their genii. The Genius which the ancient world 
assigned to any person, was his purified, concentrated indi- 
viduality ; and being considered in itself a person, became 
thus his protecting*; tutelary spirit. The two ideas be- 
came blended together. In this sense, according to ancient 
notions, each man had Iris Genius, — the divine principle 
of human nature, in fact, thus idealized, — giving to his life 
its peculiar stamp, conducting him to the Highest. This 
Genius was to man something holy, to be honoured with du- 
teous service, or, if displeased, propitiated by every possible 
atonement. Thus a serious and important religious worship 
was consecrated by men to their own genii. But if one man 
was distinguished above others, to him was attributed a 
higher, mightier Genius ; and the feelings of veneration for 
this favoured individual were expressed by a correspond- 
ing veneration for his Genius. Servants, therefore, hon- 
oured the genii of their masters; children, those of their 
parents ; nations, those of their benefactors, heroes, and 
rulers. From this originally pure religious conception sprang 
the homage paid to the genii of the Roman emperors, by whom 
it was usual to swear ; and, finally, an abject flattery intro- 
duced the apotheosis of the emperors themselves, and even of 
the worst among them. But, as we have already remarked, 
not only individuals, but communities, had their genii ; a 
family had its genius domesticus ; cities, nations, empires, had 
their tutelary spirits. In Rome especially, this worship be- 
came naturalized ; the Eternal City itself, the army, the senate, 
paid homage to their genii ; and we find it more particularly 
valent in the colonies, where altars were erected, temples 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



51 



built, and sacrifices offered to these invisible protectors. 
Even the god had his Genius sculptured beside him on a 
smaller scale ; and the animal, vegetable, and mineral world 
was animated and governed in like manner. In these genii 
was embodied that divine principle which pervades both the 
animated and the inanimate world; while the heroes were 
idealizations of humanity striving upwards to godlike perfec- 
tion. 

If we compare these ancient conceptions with the modern 
notion of the Worship of Genius, we certainly perceive a point 
of affinity. In both, concentrated, commanding spiritual 
power is the object of reverence ; for according to the ancient 
idea, a man's Genius necessarily expresses his best and high- 
est qualities, his better self, the spirit in which he acts, the 
power which he exercises, the form which his life assumes. 
So far the ancient genii-worship was a worship of human 
nature ; but of human nature in its purity, perfection, and 
ideality. Here the modern idea coincides with the ancient ; 
but at this very point the difference becomes apparent. To 
the ancient world, the Genius was indeed the ideal of hu- 
manity, whether individually or in the abstract ; but at the 
same time it was to them a something personally divine, a 
real existence, however closely bound up in some wider or 
narrower sphere of human life. To moderns, genius is not 
an independent divine existence, beyond and above man, but 
it is the divine principle within man ; in fact, human nature 
itself, though viewed on the best side. With this difference 
of conception, the modes of worship must also be essentially 
different. Among the ancients, genii-worship was a real reli- 
gion; the genii had altars, temples, and sacrifices, and in 
their worship lay something mysterious and awful. A man 
could prostrate himself in deep earnestness before his own 
Genius, and still more so before those of superior individuals, 
or of whole communities. The genii- worship stood not in 
opposition to that of the gods, but was organically connected 

d 2 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



therewith ; the one led upwards to the other, and might even, 
as the gods also had then genii, blend with it. Finally — and 
this is a principal consideration — it was of popular and uni- 
versal interest ; for its spirit and application might be brought 
home to the very lowest. But all this is inconceivable with 
respect to the Worship of Genius, in the modern sense., A 
veneration for great men, in then merely human character, 
can never become religion, properly so called; but by merging 
into idolatry, it stands in direct opposition to the adoration 
of God, instead of being intimately connected therewith. Its 
objects being only such conspicuous and superior individuals as 
are appreciated by none but the more cultivated, its character 
becomes wholly aristocratic; and by excluding the mass of 
mankind, the poor in mind and body, it excludes itself from 
the title of religion. But the conclusion to be drawn from the 
above remarks is this : not, that the ancient genii- worship 
would be for us a satisfactoiy embodiment of the religious 
principle, or that we should aim at reviving it under the form 
of angel -worship, the idea most nearly corresponding to it in 
the Christian world ; but only, that in this ancient worship, 
in its connexion with paganism, there was more religion, 
properly so called, than can or ever will be found in the 
modern Worship of Genius, as connected with Christianity. 



OX THE EXISTENCE OF A LAW FOR THE PERIODICAL 
APPEARANCE OF MEN OF GENIUS. 

Schwab, in his friendly answer to my letter, has thrown 
some doubts on my assertion, that the appearance of great 
geniuses are periodical, and governed by a great, comprehen- 
sive law. This has led me to reconsider what I before said ; 
but I have as yet found no reason to retract or materially 
modify my opinion. I venture to say here one word more on 
-ihe question. 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



53 



To regard the appearance of men of genius as mere chance, 
or dependent on material causes alone, will be impossible to 
any one who views man's history, not as a vast chaos, but as 
the scheme of an intelligent, superintending Power. There 
remains, then, only this alternative : to refer the appearance 
of every single individual to a special act of divine will and 
creative energy ; or to recognize, in the whole succession of 
such individuals, one great act of the same will, expressed in 
an eternal, inviolable law. Each supposition has much on its 
side ; the former seems, at first, more honourable to God, as 
well as to men of Genius, who thus appear to derive their 
being more directly from an act of free will on His part ; the 
other corresponds more to the general course of Providence, 
and suggests more clearly the idea of a great spiritual choir, 
extending, in harmonious succession, through the whole history 
of human progress. If, however, we examine more closely, 
we shall find that the two sides of the dilemma are not con- 
tradictions, but different views of one great truth. Free will 
and necessity are, when used of God, two ways of expressing 
the same idea. Looking, according to our imperfect concep- 
tions, at each separate manifestation of the Divine will, we 
may truly say, that by a special exercise of creative power, 
the heaven-born gift of genius has been bestowed on the 
world at such a period, and among such a people. But we 
must guard well against representing to our minds the Divine 
will as a series of unconnected resolutions ; it is, on the con- 
trary, an all-embracing plan, eternal, unchanging : and thus 
the idea of a law, by which the periodical appearance of men 
of genius is regulated and fore-appointed, and the progressive 
intellectual development of the human race seemed, harmon- 
izes fully with what our previous conceptions would lead us 
to expect. 

Again, with reference to revelation, the Christian faith 
assures us, on the one hand, that the appearance of Christ had 
been, from eternity, pre-determined by the Divine will ; and 



54 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



on the other, that this determination was carried into effect 
precisely at the period when all was prepared for the purposes 
of his mission. This fore-appointment of Christ from all 
eternity is especially pointed out to us by the apostle Paul 
(who, in this sense, may be called the founder of religious 
philosophy) ; as when, for instance, he says that God chose 
us in Christ before the foundation of the world ; while the 
historical necessity of his appearance at a particular period is 
expressed by those assertions of Scripture, that the Son of 
God and of Man was born in the fulness of time ; which mean 
only, that he appeared at the precise moment when the pre- 
parations for his work were completed, and the world in such 
a state, that the influence of his mission, however temporarily 
counteracted, would never be wholly lost. But Christ, as both 
profane and sacred records demonstrate, does not stand isolated 
in the world's history, but was heralded among the Jews by 
the law and the prophets, — among heathen nations by myths 
and symbols — by philosophy and poetry — by the very corrup- 
tion which awakened anticipations of what was so much 
needed. If, therefore, Christ's appearance was pre-determined, 
so must have been all the preparations for his appearance, 
and, consequently, all individuals who aided in these prepar- 
ations ; and thus men of genius, especially m the departments 
of religion and morality, necessarily become involved in the 
one great scheme of the world's history, and subject to the 
laws by which this is carried on. 

Another argument may be drawn from the multiplicity of 
branches into which the operations of human intellect are 
divided ; none, however, forming an independent whole, but 
indissolubly connected with others. Thus, if one suffers, all 
are injured, mediately or immediately. Hence a certain re- 
gularity and proportion is necessary in the development of the 
several branches ; and, consequently, in those particular mani- 
festations of genius, in individuals, by which this development 
is carried on. Here, again, the idea of a general law is 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



55 



necessarily implied. We do not mean that men of genius are 
planted in dull uniformity, at equal distances, like trees in f 
pleasure-grounds ; but, as the all-comprehensive laws of the 
physical world allow of infinite variety, and endless individual 
peculiarities, such must even more freely prevail in the 
spiritual. 

Another question, and the one which Schwab seems par- 
ticularly to have had in view, is, " whether this law can be 
traced and calculated by experience, like those of the heavenly 
bodies, whose evolutions may be predicted with mathematical 
accuracy ? " Here, I reply, that such mechanical certainty is 
impossible in a law of the spiritual world ; all spiritual matters 
being, like God himself, beyond the grasp of sense, and there- 
fore liable to dispute and doubt. Yet it may be proved, though 
not mathematically, — proved, not only by a priori reasonings, 
but by the universal experience of mankind, which bears 
witness to the marvellous regularity and impartiality with 
which the various intellectual endowments have been distri- 
buted. Thus, every science and every art — the lowest and the 
most sublime — the driest as well as the most attractive, has 
found brains specially organized for its culture, and minds 
which have recognized therein their fitting mission. No age 
has been over-burdened with talent, none has been wholly 
destitute ; nor can we point to any period, either totally defi- 
cient in mathematical or poetical genius, or possessing such, to 
the exclusion of all other gifts. We also remark, that among 
those of more ordinary endowments, men of high creative 
genius appear from time to time, at appropriate seasons ; thus, 
great occasions have never been wanting in great men ; nor 
have great geniuses ever failed in finding fitting scope for their 
energies. If such a law be once established, will it not suffi- 
ciently demonstrate the existence of an infinitely wise and 
powerful Lawgiver ? And this was the only object which I 
had in view. 

One more objection I must expect to encounter, namely 



56 



SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS. 



this : " From the idea of a self-conscious God, you infer the 
existence of such a law, and then make the law an argument 
for the idea of a self-conscious God ; is not this arguing in a 
circle, and therefore valueless in the way of proof?" It cer- 
tainly is arguing in a circle ; but far from rendering the proof 
valueless, it is only what in such cases unavoidably takes 
place. We argue, from the idea of a living God, that He 
must reveal Himself ; and from those revelations of Himself 
which He has afforded us in history and scripture, we argue 
that He is. Our belief in Christ leads us to God ; but with- 
out presupposing the existence of God, this belief is impos- 
sible. We trace in every occurrence of our lives the hand of 
Providence ; but we need a previous belief in Providence, to 
enable us to solve life's riddle, and harmonize its dissonances. 
Thus is it ever in such matters ; nor can it, in our present 
state, be otherwise. God explains to us the world, and the 
world, God ; reason learns from experience, and experience is 
rendered intelligible by reason. 



THE 



DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER, 



ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY 



D 3 



THE 

DISTINCTIVE CHARACTER, 

OK, 

ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 



AN ESSAY, 

RELATIVE TO MODERN SPECULATIONS AND THE PRESENT 
STATE OF OPINION. 



BY 

PROF. C. ULLMANN. 



PREFACE. 



The little work which I here offer to the sympathizing public 
appeared first in the " Theological Studies and Criticisms/'' 
Many who read it there earnestly requested me to publish it 
separately. They thought it might assist in giving clearer 
ideas on the fundamental character of Christianity, to those 
persons who are unable personally to investigate every move- 
ment in public opinion ; and be especially useful to the more 
cultivated among the laity. I was the less disposed to refuse 
so kind a request, because I consider it the duty of every 
student, who is in any way qualified for the office, to con- 
tribute to the instruction of others, and especially so in those 
departments of knowledge which involve the highest interests 
of the human race. Sympathy for these subjects appeared for 
some time extinct, or nearly so ; — in the present day it has 
revived with full force. Religion, Christianity, the Church, 
occupy now the foreground of human interest, and almost 
throw politics, and the material concerns of life, into the shade. 
None but the most sanguine or inexperienced can hope that 
this interest lies in general very deep ; or avoid observing 
how much that is incongruous or impure blends with it, 
giving often to the holiest subjects an air of caricature. But 
it would be equally unjust to deny that a deep-felt necessity 
lies at the bottom of this popular excitement, — that the spirit 
of the age, as manifested in its best and noblest repre- 



vi 



PREFACE. 



seritatives, is engaged in a struggle for higher and more satis- 
factory forms of life and thought. But since this incongruous 
admixture still remains, it becomes the' duty of those who 
have devoted themselves to the subject, and whose studies 
perhaps give them a clearer insight into such matters, not to 
withdraw within themselves, or a limited circle of the studious, 
but to do their best for the general benefit. I thus send forth 
these sheets to try if any such power resides in them. Some 
things I have endeavoured to render more generally intelli- 
gible ; and have added such considerations as I thought might 
serve the main purpose. -But I have avoided too lengthy a 
development of my views, both from the fear of becoming 
burdensome, and because I feel convinced that the cultivated 
reader will understand and apply what I can only briefly 
indicate. 

I conclude with the words of a highly-gifted man, which 
seem spoken from my own soul : "In this age, which appears 
to us so much advanced, Christianity is still far from having 
received the full application of which it is capable to the con- 
science and life of man, — from having uttered its crowning- 
word, or expressed its whole burden of thought. In one 
sense it has said all from the beginning, — in another, much 
yet remains for it to say, — and the world will not cease till 
Christianity has delivered its whole message." 

C. Ullmann. 



Heidelberg, Eatfer, 1845. 



THE 

ESSENCE OE CHRISTIANITY. 



i. 

Former ages lived in Christianity, — the present thinks and 
speculates upon it. The former had an instinctive, almost 
unerring perception of what is Christian, — the latter strives 
to analyze and define it ; and though clearer ideas are often 
derived from this process, it is still one in which we have to 
grope our way, and often, from neglecting that original 
instinct, wander from the right path. 

The essential character of Christianity was, of course, set 
forth from the beginning in its fundamental instructions, but 
it was not expressly reduced to its first principles, or com- 
pressed into some well-defined form, and thus placed in direct 
opposition to the unchristian element. The " apologists " of 
the first centuries, while they defend Christianity against its 
assailants, develope, at the same time, the first germs of 
Christian theology, and set forth with great clearness its lead- 
ing doctrines respecting God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, re- 
demption and sanctification ; but to comprehend in one view 
the distinctive peculiarities of Christianity, and to contrast it, 
as such, with Judaism or Heathenism, does not seem to have 
occurred to them, however much such a work was needed. 
From the fourth century forwards, the intellectual activity of 



64 



THE ESSENCE 



the church was devoted to the definition of various doctrines, 
each being considered separately and independently ; in the 
speculative East, disputes turned chiefly on the ideas enter- 
tained of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of Christ 
in his double nature : in the practical West, on the doctrine 
of sin and grace, — on the necessity and means of salvation ; 
but theologians, wholly absorbed in these details, never 
thought of comparing Christianity, as such, with other forms 
of religion ; or, if this was ever done, it was only incidentally, 
as Avhen distinguishing the doctrine of the Trinity from the Jew- 
ish and pagan conceptions of the Deity. Least of all was this 
work to be expected from the middle ages, whose employment 
was to systematize and refine upon what, by the authority of 
the church, was stamped for them as absolute truth — as 
Christianity ; there was naturally no motive for comparing 
this with other forms, or measuring its intellectual and 
spiritual capacity with theirs ; and had such a desire existed, 
the want of historic training and unbiassed criticism would 
have rendered it impossible. Even the Reformers, who 
caught so large a portion of the Christian spirit, were far from 
thinking to analyze it ; they had yet to free the beating heart 
of Christianity from the stifling incumbrances of ecclesiastical 
authority ; all their struggles were practical, and confined 
within the sphere of Christianity and the church, — all that 
lay beyond was for them of little interest. The moderns have 
been the first to attempt an exact definition of the distinctive 
character of Cmistianity. This has been the natural result of 
their advance in historical and philosophical culture, and 
especially of their very enlarged study of ecclesiastical his- 
tory. They have perceived that Christianity, independent, 
original, and divinely- derived, as it may be allowed to be, 
stands at the same time in a great historical connexion, the 
comprehension of which is necessary for its full significance ; 
that it. did not precisely fall from heaven in its present state, 
but has grown up like other institutions ; and the desire has 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



65 



arisen of comprehending it in its relation to other religions — 
in its historical, human aspect ; and of thus more fully appre- 
ciating its superiority. For half a century many works have 
been written with this view on the spirit and essence of 
Christianity : they display very different tendencies, and re- 
flect the various phases of theology and general culture. 
Thus, to give only some of the most striking examples, the 
excellent Storr, in his time, dwelt especially on the super- 
natural and wonderful element of Christianity. Herder con- 
siders its universal human sympathy to be its distinguishing 
characteristic. Chateaubriand has seized upon its sublime, 
all-pervading beauty, as affording the fittest scope for his 
genius. Eveiy age, every person of strong individual character 
has thrown a light on some new aspect of this wonderful 
Existence. The Christological discussions of the present day 
especially, have led, amongst other advantageous results, to a 
clearer discrimination of its specific peculiarities, and have 
assisted in baring its inmost core to the light of day. 

Instead of starting, as was formerly the general case, with 
wholly one-sided notions, — as partizans of Catholicism or 
Protestantism, of so-called primitive Christianity or of eccle- 
siastical authority, of supernaturalism, rationalism, or criti- 
cism,— and thus taking a partial development as the universal 
standard ; — dwelling on the divine or the human, the doc- 
trinal, ethical, or aesthetic element, to the exclusion of all 
others ; — men seem now to have attained a wider and more 
comprehensive view. They begin to regard Christianity as a 
whole, at once historical and ideal, human and divine ; 
capable equally of universal and of individual application; 
to be studied both in its origin and in its progress. By such 
a process only can we arrive at the central point of vitality — 
the heart, whose pulsations give life and motion to the whole 
organization. 

It is in this sense that I propose, in the following pages, to 



66 



THE ESSENCE 



examine the distinctive character of Christianity ; that is, to 
inquire what makes it such as it is, and gives it a peculiar 
impress, as distinguished from other religions. This may be 
called the peculiar, the specific, or the essential element of 
Christianity. A distinction has even been drawn between the 
first and last of these appellations. The former, it has been 
said, implies the external, historical, circumstantial peculi- 
arities ; the latter, the idea, the inner truth, the Permanent. 
Thus, the unchangeable essence of Christianity would consist 
in this alone : — that the person of Christ forms the central 
point of Christian piety ; or, perhaps, that the religious and 
moral principles which he originated form the basis of man's 
higher life. But the question of the specific relation of Christ 
to the religious community of which he is the head ; — whether 
he is to be regarded as its intentional founder, or only as its 
indirect originator ; to be viewed as a teacher, an example, a 
lawgiver, or as a ruler ; a Redeemer, or as an atoning sacri- 
fice, — this is left to the free reason of believers ; and may, 
therefore, be considered as somewhat uncertain and variable. 
But this distinction is unwarranted. The relation of Christ 
to his followers must be that which he himself claimed, and 
which the first propagators of his religion claimed for him ; a 
relation, the exact nature of which may be disputed, but 
cannot be arbitrarily altered. It is certainly possible to dis- 
criminate between the words " peculiar " and " essential ;" 
for example, our essential characteristic is, that we are men ; 
our peculiarity consists in being this or that individual man. 
Thus it may be said, that Christianity is essentially a religion ; 
its 'peculiarities are those points in which it differs from other 
religions. But in the present case, the two ideas cannot be 
separated. It cannot be maintained that Christianity is first 
religion, and that then something is added by which it be- 
comes Christianity • but, in the veiy fact of its being essen- 
tially Religion, consists that peculiarity which pervades all its 



OP CHRISTIANITY. 



<;>7 



manifestations, and distinguishes them from all other so-called 
religions. It is this very peculiarity by which it claims to be 
the universal religion, the Religion of Mankind. 

II. 

We have remarked above, that until recent times, the 
essence of Christianity has not been the object of formal 
investigation. This, however, does not exclude the idea of 
this essence having been manifested, under various forms, at 
various periods. On the contrary, we remark a regular series 
of such manifestations, corresponding very characteristically 
to the great periods of Christian development. The spirit of 
Christianity, in a cycle of many hundred years, has assumed 
in reality all those phases through which philosophy has 
passed in its reasonings on the subject. 

Christianity, on its first appearance, was received as a new 
life, and embraced as something whole and undivided. Its 
founder formed the central point which gave unity to the 
entire body. A similar influence was exercised by the 
apostles and their immediate followers ; but the original har- 
mony soon sutfered from the undue preponderance of one or 
more elements, to the neglect of others equally important. 
For a while, however, the primitive spirit of love preserved 
the essential unity and proportion of the Christian church in 
the midst of many individual discrepancies ; but this unity 
was that of innocence, not of spiritual ripeness. When Chris- 
tianity, first embraced as a whole, began to be dissected and 
analyzed, unity necessarily disappeared, and can only be 
recovered when, by means of these very struggles, Christi- 
anity shall have attained its full maturity and development. 

The nature of man, whose highest qualities are at first 
scarcely discernible germs, is impelled, by its very constitution, 
to growth; and this development most frequently proceeds, 
not directly, but by what appear irregular and complicated 



68 



THE ESSENCE 



processes; until, from the midst of struggles and contra- 
dictions, the whole truth is evolved. The same applies to 
Christianity. The abundance of its treasures can be unfolded 
only by a gradual, historical process. It necessarily follows, 
from the limited nature of the human mind, that each element 
must successively become the object of preponderating interest 
and exertion; and we shall find that each great period of 
human progress has had some such pervading influence. 
The process must continue, till all disproportions shall merge 
into a higher unity. 

The first object of interest to Christian antiquity was natu- 
rally, Doctrine. This was first studied as a whole, in the 
defence of Christianity itself; but from the fourth, to the 
sixth century (the essentially dogmatic period of the church), 
the interest was subdivided among various points of belief. 
It was necessary for Christianity, in its contest with hostile 
religions, clearly to understand its own doctrines, and to fix 
and embody them in distinct words and forms ; and the 
speculative, philosophically-trained Greeks, to whom it was 
first delivered, were peculiarly qualified for this office. When 
the ancient world, with its previous culture, sank, and Chris- 
tianity was transplanted into the fresh soil of the west, it 
received a new mission : hitherto its energies had been 
devoted to self-development ; now it was called upon to train 
others, and to become a moral power for the instruction of 
the rude barbarians. This was undertaken by the JRomish 
Church, which inherited from its birth-place the love of power 
and rule, and the ambition of fusing all nations into one great 
universal empire ; only this empire was now to be spiritual 
instead of temporal. Under its hands Christianity assumed 
a new form, suited to its new office ; it became an educational 
institution — a law ; it unfolded principally its moral, dis- 
ciplinarian qualities, though disguised under the veil of 
church authority. But Christianity, as a law, was only pre- 
paring to burst forth from its masquerade, and display itself; 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



69 



living and breathing, in its character of a Gospel. For this 
work, the German race, with their depth of feeling and fulness 
of inward life — their moral earnestness, intellectual power, and 
religious fervour — were peculiarly fitted ; and thus, when the 
time was Mulled, emancipated themselves from the tutelage 
of the church, and developed among themselves a new, living 
form of Christianity, which was restored by the Reformation 
to the highest dignity, as Redemption, Atonement, Justification 
of the sinner before God. Men now awoke to a comprehension 
of its character, as the religion of Freedom, — freedom towards 
God and towards the world. 

We have now considered Christianity in its three primal 
forms : as Doctrine, as Moral Law, and as Redemption. But a 
fourth view has by degrees assumed an importance which in 
the beginning could not have been anticipated. It is that 
which regards, as the essential element of Christianity, the 
union of man with God, and claims for it, as sole dispenser of 
this privilege, the title of the absolute, essentially perfect 
Religion. We find traces of this conception in the remote 
periods of Christian antiquity ; it is still more apparent in 
the mysticism of the middle ages, especially among the Ger- 
mans ; but it has become, for the first time, the predominating 
influence, in the philosophical and theological speculations of 
modern times. From the beginning, however, it has mani- 
fested two very distinct tendencies ; one towards pantheism, 
the other towards Christian theism. The first has spread 
widely ; but though it assumes to be the expression of the 
"mind of the age," we can accept with confidence such views 
only as explain Christianity on its own principles, on its own 
foundation of belief in a personal God. 

These various types of Christianity are well expressed in 
the various churches into which the Christian world is di- 
vided. As Doctrine, as a theoretic system of belief, it is 
embodied in the Greek church, — the church of Christian 
antiquity, — which very characteristically claims the title of 



70 



THE ESSENCE 



Orthodox ; its employment as a system of morals and dis- 
cipline is strikingly exemplified in the Eomish church, — the 
church of the middle ages, — whose pretensions, not only to 
universal sway, but to absolute personal influence, are well 
expressed by the appellation " Catholic." As the religion of 
redemption and atonement, it predominates in that church 
which first arose among the Germans, and which has been 
suitably named cc Evangelical," — the church of modern times ; 
and lastly, that church, which, while comprehending in itself 
the characteristics of all the preceding, aims at realizing 
Christianity as union with God and universal brotherhood 
among men, as the spirit of Christ, glorifying man's whole 
existence ; this church, for which, as we hope, the religious 
movements of the present age are preparing the way, we call 
the church of the future, — the true catholic church,— which 
shall introduce a unity, not external and compulsory, but 
internal and inherent, which, breathing into ecclesiastical 
forms the spirit of Christianity, shall create, from these 
hitherto incongruous elements, a living and harmonious 
whole. 

Now the very series which we thus trace in real life, has 
been lately repeated in the speculations of modern theology 
on the essence of Christianity ; only compressed into a brief 
period, and slightly modified by other influences. And here 
we are first struck with the gradual progress from externals 
to internals; from the first reception of Christianity as a 
form of belief, to that stage in which we view in it the 
glorification of our nature, by assimilation to its Divine 
Prototype. 

But if we regard Christianity as the realization of perfect 
religion, our conceptions of its character will necessarily be 
modified by those which we entertain of religion in the 
abstract. Now the ideas of the present times on this subject- 
are confessedly very various. Some would define religion as 
the acknowledgment of a Divine Existence; others, as a 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



71 



regulation of the will and actions with reference to such a 
Divine Being ; while some view it as the effect produced by 
such a belief on the spiritual state of man, or on his whole 
inner life. And these different conceptions of religion are 
reflected in those which we have already examined with 
reference to Christianity. As doctrine, Christianity lays the 
chief stress on correct views of the Divine Nature, and 
appears to coincide most nearly with the orthodox notions of 
religion, which predominated before Kant's time. Then the 
doctrines of Kant assimilate, in some measure, with the 
Catholic conception of Christianity as a moral law, since he 
founds religion upon ethics, and teaches the identity of the 
religious and the moral. Again, the definition of religion as 
a habit of mind, or state of feeling, corresponds with the 
views of those who regard Christianity as redemption ; for 
this word, thus used, implies in its object a complete inward 
change ; and lastly, the conception of Christianity as the 
instrument of an entire union with God, is the natural result 
of considering religion as that influence which brings the 
whole spiritual existence of man into relation with the Deity ; 
always providing that the expression "union of God with 
man," be employed, not in a pantheistic sense, but only as 
denoting a mental and spiritual process. 

The three first definitions contain, as we are willing to 
allow, some truth, but only partial and imperfect truth, until 
all are comprehended and reconciled under the last, highest 
conception. This, then, is the only one fully satisfactory, 
inasmuch as it not only embraces all the others, but results 
immediately from the original, innate character of Christianity ; 
which is essentially life, action, history, not a mere code of 
moral, metaphysical, and logical axioms, enveloped in myths 
and symbols. These arguments, however, have no weight in 
favour of the pantheistic view ; they can apply only to the 
theistic, which regards redemption as the free, voluntary act 
of the living God, and teaches that the union of the Divine 



7:2 



THE ESSENCE 



with the human nature, as exemplified in Christ, may be 
realized in every individual, in proportion as, by this redeem- 
ing influence of the Gospel, he is purified from sin. The 
correct and characteristic expression, therefore, wall be, not 
" Union of the Divine and Human," which may admit of a 
pantheistic interpretation, but the more definite form, " Union 
of God and Man," that is, of a God not depending for indi- 
vidual consciousness on his human manifestations, but existing 
personally and independently, as a free self-conscious spirit, — 
with man, who is not God by nature (the Man- God instead 
of the Divine Man), but is made a sharer in the Divine per- 
fections, only by a free act of Divine condescension. 

We shall now proceed to examine more closely the con- 
clusions which we have at present somewhat anticipated. 

in. 

Eirst, then, Christianity has been considered as Doctrine ; 
that is, as consisting in certain opinions respecting God and 
His relation to the world. 

Here, again, we find two divisions. Some have adhered 
firmly to the positive character of Christianity as a revelation, 
claiming for it full authority on the score of its divine origin, 
and holding as doctrine whatever the Scriptures, as the 
divinely accredited and inspired record, contain — whether 
historical, moral, or supernatural. Others, abandoning the 
historical portion of Christianity, as the merely indifferent 
form in which its moral and religious principles were first 
embodied, have assigned to theology the office of freeing 
the sound kernel of essential truth from the worthless and 
perishable rind in which it was at first enveloped, and of 
making it visible in its purity. The former are the Super- 
naturalists, the latter are the Eationalists. They agree in 
regarding Christianity as a form of religious doctrine. But 
here the distinction is immediately apparent. Superna- 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



73 



turalism receives, along with the other declarations of Scrip- 
ture, all that is there asserted respecting the person of the 
Redeemer ; but it receives this rather as one doctrine amongst 
other doctrines, than as the vital principle of Christianity. 
The naturalists, on the other hand, rejecting all that is 
personal and historical in religion, do not hesitate to express 
the wish " that the founder of that beneficent religion, which 
bears his name, had remained for ever unknown to the 
Christian world, so that they might have benefited by the 
truths which he taught, and have escaped all abuses with 
reference to his person." 

According to the latter theory, which aims at effacing 
every distinguishing peculiarity of Christianity, any investi- 
gation of its essence becomes of course impossible. Indeed, 
such a mode of treating an historical subject deserves mention 
only as an intellectual curiosity. But the former habit of 
thought, though retaining more of the substance of Christi- 
anity, is little better adapted for the comprehension of its 
spirit. There is a falsity at the very outset, in the assump- 
tion that Christianity is exclusively or even principally to be 
regarded as a doctrine. And this error proceeds both from 
incorrect views of religion in general, and from unscriptural 
conceptions of the origin and progress of Christianity. 

Belief certainly forms an element of religion ; but he who 
studies religion only intellectually loses sight of its vital 
principle. Its essentials are love and veneration, a deep 
pervading sense of dependence on God, of communion with 
and submission to him. Were religion only Doctrine, it 
would be susceptible, like logic or mathematics, of exact 
demonstration. Doctrine was certainly necessary as the first 
vehicle of communication : the true creative energy to which 
its influence was owing, consisted, not in the propagation of 
abstract ideas, but in the general impression of piety, as 
exemplified in the whole of life. Thus among individuals, 
parents and instructors exercise their highest influence by 

E 



74 



THE ESSENCE 



means of example ; and the religious teachers of the human 
race, prophets and founders of sects, accomplish their work, 
in proportion to its elevation, by the immediate operation of 
their own minds and feelings on those of others. Very far 
indeed is the word "doctrine" from expressing the rich, 
manifold fulness of meaning, which we are accustomed to 
condense in the terms "religion," and" "piety;" and to 
pronounce a religion perfect, and at the same time to define 
it as mere doctrine, is an absolute contradiction in terms ; 
since such a religion, — a mere system of belief on divine 
subjects, — would be incapable of producing a sound, effectual 
piety, and can thus be, in fact, no religion at all. 

And indeed, Christianity is far from representing itself as 
such a system, nor has it been so considered, at any period, 
by its most enlightened advocates. In one point of view it 
undoubtedly is doctrine, but not in the modern didactic sense 
of the term ; for as a doctrine in this sense it might indeed 
have founded a school, but never a church, a universal re- 
ligion. Christianity is doctrine, inasmuch as it relates what 
actually happened; it is testimony, glad tidings, gospel. 
Not by axioms and deductions, but by religious and moral 
principles embodied in deeds, has Christianity expanded the 
spiritual consciousness of mankind. Doctrine followed in 
the second place, to teach and bear witness to these deeds ; 
but it possesses life and efficacy only in so far as the original 
spirit has been imbibed, and can be communicated by the 
teacher. In this sense the apostles and the evangelists, as 
the first heralds of the gospel, preceded its more systematic 
teachers ; and in all ages the church has commenced with 
bearing witness to gospel truths, and has then proceeded to 
teach and reduce them to a science ; but the real strength of 
the doctrine has ever been in that spirit which was first 
embodied in the life of Christ, and caught, in a smaller or 
larger measure, by his followers. Certainly, the facts of Chris- 
tianity are valuable, not merely as facts, but as realizing the 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



75 



highest moral and religious ideas. These may be deduced 
from the facts, and compressed into a system. We thus 
obtain a code of religious doctrine, in a form more or less 
popular ; but hence theologians, and their disciples among 
the laity, have been led to consider Christianity, itself as a 
mere compendium of doctrine. This, however, is to confound 
a science with its object. For popular communication, and 
analytical examination, Christianity must indeed be reduced 
to doctrine; but it remains always, in essence, Life and 
Action. 

But supposing that we are to regard Christianity princi- 
pally as doctrine, we must still ask : — What is the distinctive 
peculiarity of this doctrine? This must evidently consist, 
not in this or that religious or moral dogma, since these (as 
for example the doctrines of God's universal presence, of the 
creation, of eternal life, of love as the highest commandment, 
&c.) can be frequently proved to have been held by Christi- 
anity in common with other sects; but in what Christ 
declares respecting himself, his relation to God, and the 
position in which he placed mankind with reference to God ; 
and, again, in the declarations of the apostles with reference 
to him, his person and work. Here we immediately pass 
from the doctrine to its object, namely, the manifestation 
in Christ of the new, highest, perfect, religious life. The 
essential point in the history of Christ is his own character ; 
this is developed by the whole course of his life ; it is 
gathered partly from himself, partly from the testimony 
borne by others to the impression made upon them. Only 
as life is Christianity the light of the world ; and Christ 
himself clearly intimates this, since he does not say, My doc- 
trine is the truth, but, "I am the truth," adding immediately 
that he also is the life. 

We have hitherto paid no attention to the contest between 
the Supernaturalists and Naturalists, nor remarked on the 
one-sidedness of both methods of interpretation. But this is 

e 2 



76 



THE ESSENCE 



another proof how untenable is the assumption on which both 
are founded. 

Supernaturalism derives religion from special scriptural 
revelation, and confines belief exclusively to what is thus 
revealed ; while the exercise of reason becomes almost nominal. 
Naturalism refers religion entirely to man's own conscious- 
ness, to reason, reflection, moral necessity, the contemplation 
of nature ; and either wholly deprecates any dependence on 
revelation, or allows it a merely nominal influence ; employ- 
ing Scripture in the way of illustration, confirmation, or 
elucidation, but not considering it as the primal fount and 
sufficient authority. To the one party, religion is something 
wholly divine, without any admixture of the human or histo- 
rical element ; to the other, something entirely human, without 
any immediate divine aid or agency ; for when they use the 
term Eevelation, and even add to this the epithet immediate, 
they only mean, what is often intended by the common use 
of the word, those capacities which God has implanted in 
Man, and those lessons derivable from the course of nature 
and events, for the knowledge of Himself. 

From neither point of view can Eeligion, still less Christi- 
anity, be fitly estimated ; for both systems embrace only a 
portion of that which living Eeligion offers as a whole; they 
tear asunder what is properly inseparable. All true religion 
has both a divine and a human character, and with Christi- 
anity this is especially the case. The Divine Eeing — as no 
one will now dispute — is not a wholly isolated existence, 
dwelling apart from the world ; but, though independent and 
personal, is at every moment present in the world, pervading 
and regulating both the natural and the spiritual universe. 
Thus nothing can be or happen without God ; while, how- 
ever, He leaves to natural causes their so-called independent 
operation, and to individuals their free agency. At the same 
time it follows from His nature, as Spirit and Love, that He 
should communicate Himself to His creatures, receive them 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



77 



into intercourse with Himself, and thus impart to them some 
measure of the fulness of His own blessedness. This is at 
once the origin and the consummation of Eeligion; God 
reveals and communicates Himself ; man accepts this revela- 
tion, and enters into this communion. All genuine religion 
is therefore of divine origin. But this is only one side of the 
question ; there is another, also of much importance. This 
divine message can be received by mankind only through 
means adapted to human capacities. Revelation has to work 
upon the human mind, with all the faculties and suscepti- 
bilities with which it has been endowed for this very purpose, 
and which constitute its rational character. Nor is this all ; 
this mind, at whatever period revelation is communicated, 
must be in some particular stage of progress, and under some 
peculiar historical influences. Thus all true, living religion 
must have also a human form, an historical impress and 
character. But while this is the case with all religion, it is 
especially so with Christianity. No religion is at once so 
divine and so human, so creative and original, and at the 
same time so deeply and grandly historical, as this ; and in 
none are the two elements so entirely and so indissolubly 
united. The grand ideas which form the basis of all religion 
are here presented in their greatest perfection and simplicity ; 
God manifests Himself in a form wholly corresponding with 
His character, and imbued with His spirit ; and this type of 
His perfections is a man, thinking, feeling, acting, and 
suffering ; as a man, exemplifying every human quality in its 
entire simpb'city and truth, condescending lovingly to the 
smallest human interests, and thus investing them with a 
divine glory. Viewed in this light, Christianity appears 
divine in its essence, human in its form ; divine in its origin, 
human in its embodiment and development. It possesses 
the full originality and independence of a new religious 
creation, such as could proceed only from an immediate 
divine impulse; and is yet in the fullest sense historical, 



78 



THE ESSENCE 



bearing the most intimate relation to the whole previous 
training and progress of the human race. It appeared when 
the fulness of time was accomplished, it is entwined by a 
thousand threads with reality ; and has been, ever since its 
first appearance in the world, so completely the moving 
spring of history, that we cannot but regard it as the germ of 
the higher development of humanity ; while, superior both to 
reason and nature, it is at the same time the highest Reason 
and the truest Nature. For no reason could have invented, 
no reflection discovered, that which forms the central point of 
Christianity, — the self-sacrifice made by divine love on the 
cross, for the sake of sinful humanity ; and yet both recognize 
therein the only effectual means for the redemption and re- 
generation of humanity. A life in which self is wholly anni- 
hilated, and absorbed in the Deity, is not the work of unaided 
nature ; and yet our inmost consciousness reveres therein the 
true restoration and glorification of human nature. Only as 
this entire amalgamation of the divine and human elements 
can Chiistiamty be clearly defined, or in any suitable degree- 
estimated. 

The systems which we have examined, however, destroy 
this vital union, and divide what has its full significance only 
as a whole. Por the Supernaturalists, Christianity is exclu- 
sively divine, superhuman ; they never fully enter into either 
its historical or its inward spiritual sense ; never appropriate 
it to themselves as life and spirit — as inherent, human truth, 
By the naturalists and rationalists it is deprived of its divine, 
creative impulse — of its actual connexion with a higher 
world ; they comprehend and explain it well in its merely 
human and historical character, but, at the same time, they 
strike its death-blow, by severing it from its root. And both 
systems, as has been before remarked, share the same funda- 
mental error of regarding it as Doctrine, not as Life ; while 
only in the latter character does it present to us Christ in his 
full glory as the Prince of Life, by whom life and immortality 



OF CHRISTIANITY, 



79 



were brought to light; only thus can we comprehend the 
influence which not merely cultivates the understanding, and 
corrects errors of opinion, but alters the whole constitution of 
life and society. 

IV. 

Again : since Christianity has an essentially ethical cha- 
racter, since it proposes for its ultimate object the sanctifi- 
cation of the human race individually and collectively, and 
appears in history as the greatest Moral Power, it has been 
thought best denned as such. This is the leading principle of 
Kant, and of the Rationalism to which he gave rise. Rational- 
ism agrees with Naturalism in rejecting positive revelation, and 
deducing religion exclusively from human consciousness ; but 
differs from it, in making practical, not tlieoretical Reason the 
foundation, and thus chawing its arguments chiefly from con- 
siderations of moral interests and necessities ; in manifesting 
less polemical antipathy to the historical element, and in 
preserving, at least among its best representatives, a more 
earnest and rational spirit. 

Kant, as is well known, arrived, by means of his meta- 
physical inquiries, at the result, that abstract reflection can 
attain no certainty respecting any thing divine, and beyond 
the limits of sense. Unaided theoretical Reason may as probably 
deny G-od, as prove His existence. Tf God, the main object 
of religion, is to become a certainty to us, it must be by some 
other means. Thus, there is also a practical Reason which 
acknowledges the absolute supremacy of the Moral Law, and 
strives after a moral perfection which cannot be realized in 
this world of sense, but only in some ideal, spiritual existence. 
Hence follows the reality of the Ideal, Divine, Eternal. But since 
virtue, which is unconditionally commanded by the Moral 
Law, constitutes the highest good only when united with hap- 
piness, and yet the insurance of this union rests not in our own 



80 



THE ESSENCE 



power, we are compelled to believe in a supreme, intelligent, 
and moral Power, by whom this will be effected ; and since 
the Moral Law also requires, in certain circumstances, that life 
should be sacrificed for virtue, we conclude hence the reality 
of some future state, in which self-sacrificing virtue will 
receive its reward. We thus obtain the fundamental ideas of 
religion : — God and immortality, — as the necessary results of 
the Moral Law, and of that internal consciousness, which, by 
the disciples of this school, is considered the only means of 
certainty on such subjects. If it is my duty to be virtuous, 
there must be a God who rewards virtue, and an eternal life, 
in which that reward will be bestowed. 

Precisely in the same manner has the defence of Chris- 
tianity been conducted. Not only church doctrines, but even 
the general belief which lies at their foundation, have been 
rejected, so far, at least, as they lay claim to an independent, 
certain knowledge of divine things ; on the other hand, the 
moral and practical elements have been brought pre-emi- 
nently forward, and all that is historical interpreted in a 
so-called moral and practical sense. Christianity has been 
reduced to a moral law, which indeed appeared at first under 
the form of a divine command, but is essential and self- 
evident only in so far as it approves itself to the understanding 
as moral truth. Christ, it is said, taught at first in a popular, 
historical form, with perhaps even miraculous corroboration, 
what has since, purified from this positive, historical element, 
been recognized as the imperative command of reason, — as 
the result and unalienable deduction from the moral law; 
and, which is of the highest importance, he not only taught 
but practised this, and thus constituted himself the prototype 
of human nature as acceptable to God, and became the appro- 
priate originator of the new universal Moral Life. Here is 
assigned to the Founder of Christianity the honour of a great 
moral lawgiver for the whole human race, of a moral type and 
example, even though in a sense rather symbolic than his- 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



81 



torical; wMe to Christianity is allowed the high merit of 
having first taken an enlarged view of the struggle between 
the good and evil principles in man — of having first effica- 
ciously promoted, and satisfactorily predicted, the victory of 
the former. Certainly, the idea has hence arisen that a God 
was not needed to secure this victory ; that a moral law of 
the universe might suffice, and that a pure belief in the ulti- 
mate triumph of good might satisfy the moral wants of man. 
Religion, also, in the popular conception of this theory, has 
been reduced to a mere system of ethics, and Christianity 
regarded only as the most convenient stimulus to a virtuous, 
rational course of life ; but we will not charge these perversions 
to the original principle, which, especially according to its 
'first great enunciator, was far higher and more spiritual. 

We do not undervalue the full importance of this chiefly 
moral view of Christianity. It has a superiority over the 
exclusively doctrinal conception, inasmuch as it calls more 
attention to the inward strength, the active principle of 
Christianity, — as it again places the Pounder, though in a 
symbolical sense, in an important, central position. We 
must also accord to this system, as carried out with deep 
earnestness and great moral energy by its originator, the 
credit of not only having thrown much light on one highly 
important aspect of Christianity ; but of having kept alive a 
sympathy for the Christian religion in an age peculiarly 
addicted to exclusively moral views ; — nay, if we may reckon 
as a merit an unintended, but inevitable result, of having, by 
its exemplification of Christianity as a Law, prepared the way 
for its fresh development as a Gospel. Still, this view can 
be by no means considered as complete or satisfactory, with 
regard either to religion in the abstract, or to Christianity. 

That is to say ; piety, though inseparable, in its healthy 
state, from morality, is still far from being only a means, a 
condition, or a consequence of morality ; but has an inde- 
pendent existence and a peculiar sphere. Religious ideas 

e 3 



62 



THE ESSENCE 



assert for themselves, in a well-organized, uncorrupted hu- 
man mind, as much importance as moral ones ; and piety, as 
the whole history of mankind proves, is to a thoughtful indi- 
vidual something as unchangeable as morality itself. It is 
the feeling not merely of its own inherent dignity, but of that 
of its Object also, which prevents the religious sentiment from 
becoming subordinate to the moral. To a mind imbued with 
the former, God is not only the highest, but the most cer- 
tain idea ; only through this idea do we understand the world 
and ourselves ; and while every moral principle compels the 
conclusion — if I am required to be virtuous, there must be a 
God and an eternal life ; — this very conclusion in its turn 
introduces a wholly different train of reasoning. Thus : — 
because there exists an Eternal Primal Spirit, an all-embrac- 
ing, creative intelligence, therefore am I a rational being, 
formed in His image ; because He is holy, I should be so 
also ; because He is love, and has made me a partaker in His 
life, therefore will the love which He has kindled, the life 
which He has bestowed, endure beyond death, and be eternal 
as His own divine essence. Religion knows nothing of claims 
upon God, of merit and reward ; it views the whole existence 
of Man only as His gift, refers to Him whatever is good 
therein ; would marvel to hear of any farther reward being 
demanded for such goodness, which is its own sufficient recom- 
pence ; — but it trusts confidently that a spirit, which receives 
the idea of the Eternal, is itself eternal ; that a soul which 
loves and is penetrated by the Divine Essence, has within it 
some portion of the Divine life ; and fears not, that the infi- 
nite Love, which called into existence this divinely-conscious 
being, will forsake it even in death. This faith, conscious of 
its own importance, disdains the imputation of owing its 
existence or efficacy to moral necessity. Still, the conscious- 
ness of this necessity must always hold its place in every rational 
mind. Thus we shall only avoid error by considering Reli- 
gion and Morality, not as opposing or excluding each other, 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



83 



but as forming together one harmonious whole, and constitu- 
ting, in combination, the healthy god-like type of humanity. 
And from these two elements, fitly blended, is derived that 
holiest faculty of our being, conscience, in which both are in- 
separably united ; for conscience is not merely a moral, or a 
religious sense, but both at once. It requires morality, but 
it demands this morality in the name and by the authority of 
God, the Holy One ; it is a Divine Voice, but one whose com- 
mands have ever a moral force and tendency ; which exhorts 
to do or to forbear. Since this is the case, a doctrine which 
makes religious faith only the result or the aid of Morality ; — 
which would prefer cultivating the latter independently, and, 
only because it finds difficulty in the task, admits religion as 
an assistant ; — can never satisfactorily explain the Essence of 
Beligion, and still less that of Christianity. 

For Christianity has assuredly an ultimate moral aim — ■ 
that of sanctification ; and is so pervaded by the ethical 
spirit, that it may be styled, in the highest and widest sense, 
the only perfectly moral religion. But it still remains pre- 
eminently and essentially Faith — deep, self-sufficing, unwaver- 
ing consciousness of the Divine existence, submission to God, 
peace and joy in Him, communion with Him ; and in this 
very Faith lies its Morality — that love of God which is the 
origin of all goodness, and itself originates in the primal, 
voluntary love of God towards us. And if one element — the 
Beligious or the Moral, Faith or Love — is to be distinguished 
as the first, it must be obvious that Love is derived from Faith 
rather than Faith from Love. In Faith, Love and Moral 
authority are comprehended ; so that these elements can as 
little be separated from it, " as the light of the fire from its 
warmth." The character of Christ, in particular, can be 
very imperfectly understood, if we regard it as consisting 
wholly either in morality or in piety ; the peculiarity of his 
nature lay in the most perfect combination of the two — in 
Holiness ; a life from and in God ; and if in this case, as in 



b4 



THE ESSENCE 



no other, it is the Founder who gives the distinctive impress 
to his religion, we can then fully appreciate Christianity, only 
by taking this union as the type of its character. 

Christian faith is certain of God's existence, not because 
such an assumption is necessary for moral purposes, but 
because it possesses in itself a pledge of its truth. It ad- 
heres with equal stedfastness to the belief in an eternal life ; 
not because it expects therein to be rewarded for a too 
defective virtue, but because it already possesses this life : 
because eternity is its essential element ; because it is impelled 
from death to life ; because what is born of God must be 
secured and preserved by Him ; because the spirit which has 
once become a partaker in the life of Christ, must also partici- 
pate in that eternity to which his whole being bore witness, 
Christianity also warns and threatens ; it may be called, in the 
striking words of a gifted man, " the conscience of the con- 
science," — the conscience of the whole human race ; but in 
seeking for its distinctive characteristic, we must bring pre- 
eminently forward, not what it requires, but what it gives and 
secures ; not its warnings and threatenings, but its declar- 
ations, blessings, and acts of grace. Christianity is great 
and unique, not because it is a Divinely-authorized Con- 
science, but because, without injuring the conscientious faculty 
in man — nay, while giving to this the greatest possible acute- 
ness — it at the same time quiets the conscience ; because by 
perfect love it casts out fear ; because it shows, that God is 
greater than our hearts. It is not, like the moral law, essen- 
tially a command, but a fulfilment, a satisfaction ; not a 
demand in the name of God, but a divine power and gift, 
which, when once received into the heart, works, voluntarily 
and unbidden, the highest morality. Didactic commands are 
merged in the great words : Let us love Him, for He hath 
first loved us. Duty, which in morality, as conceived by 
Kant, is everything, becomes inclination j the arbitrary com- 
mand is changed into an involuntary operation of that love 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



y5 



which is in itself the fulfilling of the law. Only in this 
character have the worthiest representatives of Christianity at 
all times viewed it ; and so must we consider it if we would 
assign to it its fitting rank among the various forms of 
religion. 

It is obvious, that in regarding Christianity as Doctrine 
or as a Moral Law only, we lose sight of that which essen- 
tially distinguishes it from other religions, from Paganism 
and Judaism. As mere Doctrine, it would not, though more 
correct, differ specifically from the systems of the heathen 
world ; nor as mere Law, — though higher and purer in its 
demands, — from Judaism, or from Islamism, which agrees with 
Judaism in this characteristic, being also a law-giving religion. 
It might be higher and better, but would still remain of the 
same species, — a purified Judaism, so to speak; not some- 
thing wholly new — different in principle. In both cases 
there would be a difficulty of explaining how it could contain 
within itself a new birth, both of the individual and of the 
race ; how it could have produced characters like Paul or 
John, or originated the entire Christian church, with all 
therein comprehended, not of ideas or commands alone, but of 
power and efficacy. 

V. 

Again, for the purpose of defining more clearly this dis- 
tinctive original character of Christianity, and bringing into 
fuller light those ideas connected Avith it which we are accus- 
tomed to condense in the word " Gospel," Schleiermacher, 
more historical than the Rationalists, brought back every 
thing to the real historical root of Christianity — the persdn 
of its founder ; but while the theoretical Supernaturalists and 
the practical Rationalists see in that Founder, on the one 
hand, only a teacher of doctrine, — on the other, only a moral 
lawgiver, — Schleiermacher went deeper, and viewed him in 
the more comprehensive office of a Redeemer ; thus assigning 



S6 



THE ESSENCE 



to Christianity its own peculiar dignity, as the Religion of 
Redemption. He had no intention to deny its claims as 
Doctrine, still less would he have disputed its ethical charac- 
ter ; on the contrary, he denned it especially as the religion of 
perfection, the moralizing and sanctifying religion; but he 
urged, that to distinguish it from other monotheistic forms of 
religion, which likewise declare doctrine and give moral rules, 
we must draw the chief attention to that principle which has 
constituted it, from the beginning, & peculiar religion. This he 
found in the idea of Redemption, and especially in the mode in 
which this idea is realized in the person of Jesus of Nazareth . 
For though the notion of redemption (that is, of liberation 
from sin and its consequence, or, as Schleiermacher takes it, 
the removal of that which disturbs the unity between the mate- 
rial and the spiritual life) is found in other religions, and its 
accomplishment aimed at by means of purifications, penances, 
and sacrifices ; — there still remains this essential difference : 
that Christ does not merely, like other founders of religions, 
appoint the means of redemption, but fulfils it by the whole 
course of Iris life ; and that as Sin, by which the redeeming 
power of other men is impeded, finds in him no place, so the 
redemption which he accomplished is unlimited and universal, 
embracing the whole human race. Thus, in Christianity the 
individual character of the Pounder is interwoven much more 
closely with the whole religion, than is the case with the foun- 
ders of the two other monotheistic religions with which we 
are acquainted. The systems to which these men gave rise, 
were founded through their agency as Divine instruments, 
and were binding upon themselves equally with others ; 
whilst Christ was the most essential element of his religion, 
and stood, as the Redeemer, in a unique position, as distin- 
guished from those to be redeemed. Schleiermacher accor- 
dingly defines Christianity as Piety, exercising perfecting 
influence on human nature, and concentrated in the idea of 
redemption through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 



\ 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 87 

By this definition, a great step is certainly gained. Since 
Redemption does not address itself exclusively either to the 
understanding or the will, but influences the whole inner man, 
a deeper and fuller idea is gained of religion ; and Christi- 
anity acquires more historical consistency, when contem- 
plated from its centre of vitality. The influence of Schleier- 
macher's views has created an epoch in theology ; and no one 
not incurably wedded to old errors, is now in danger of 
mistaking Christianity for mere doctrine or mere morality, 
But, even in his definition, the subject is not exhausted ; the 
finishing touch is wanted ; we find in his conception of 
Christianity the same fault which pervades all his views on 
such subjects. 

Chiistianity undoubtedly is what it is, by being a redeem- 
ing power. But side by side with the idea of Redemption 
(on which point we will not here dispute with Schleiermacher, 
though the peculiar character of Sin is not sufficiently con- 
sidered by him), we find in Chiistianity one of at least equal 
importance — that of Reconciliation. Perfect Redemption 
presupposes Reconciliation ; for not till man is fully reconciled 
and re-united to God, can he feel himself wholly redeemed. 
Thus from Redemption we are referred to Reconciliation, as 
something antecedent and higher ; a point which should not 
be left out of view in estimating the distinctive peculiarity of the 
Christian religion. Again, Redemption is something essen- 
tially internal, it is Kberation from the yoke of sin, restoration 
of the harmony between the material and the spiritual life ; 
Reconciliation, on the other hand, implies an external relation, 
it restores the appropriate connexion between the sinner and 
the Holy God. The former* is a matter of feeling, and 
consists in an abiding state of mind (in a consciousness, first 
of the need, and next of the efficacy, of Redemption) ; the 
latter involves the necessity of external Divine influence, and 
has something circumstantial and objective (forgiveness of 
sin, and justification of the sinner before God), implying an 



83 



THE ESSENCE 



objective recognition of the Divine existence. Now Schleier- 
macher, according to his notions of faith as entirely subjective, 
and his conception of religion as a state of feeling, has here 
also, with perfect consistency, adhered exclusively to the idea 
of internal experience. But while Christianity is a revelation 
only in so far as it is Redemption, its full redeeming power 
consists in this : —that it communicates a higher, more 
perfect knowledge of God ; and this God it teaches us to 
reverence as the Father, as Love, as Him who sent the 
Redeemer into the world, and thus revealed to man His own 
nature and perfections. We thus require an idea which ex- 
presses, better than that of Redemption can do, this objective 
influence exercised by God upon man ; and this idea is found 
in the word Reconciliation. Again, as Redemption rests upon 
Reconciliation, so both depend on the peculiar, individual 
character of Christ. To this character we are finally referred, 
as the last and highest point ; as possessing its own signifi- 
cance and efficacy, independent of the works, in which, however, 
it was naturally manifested. Here we have the source of all 
which Christianity is and has effected; and herein, therefore, 
must we seek its essential character and distinguishing 
principle. 

VI. 

If we now inquire, What is it in Christ's character, by 
means of which he exercises upon individuals and upon man- 
kind this redeeming and reconciling power ? What was the 
condition on which alone he could become a perfect Re- 
deemer ? — the answer which first presents itself is this : — It 
was his life, which, while wholly pervaded by that spirit of 
holiness, truth, and love, which we must acknowledge as the 
spirit of God, at the same time represents and glorifies what- 
ever is truly human and natural ; it is that love which, though 
blessed and self-sufficing in its own perfection, expands in 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



89 



the widest and most active sympathy. But this life itself 
has its central point of vitality ; and this, as the theology of 
the present day, not only in its general tendency, but in all 
its various shades of opinion, declares, consists in the perfect 
union in his person of the Divine and Human. This is the 
living fountain of Chiistianity ; this is the signet which 
impresses thereon its predominating distinctive character. 

In fact, all classes of Christians, — the orthodox disciples 
of the Church, and the advocates of exclusive scriptural 
authority ; the pietists and the speculatists ; nay, even to a 
certain extent, the mythics, — agree theoretically in this 
universal principle. But there are many differences, and even 
positive contradictions, in their modes of interpreting and 
applying it. We cannot here enter into all these modifi- 
cations, but we must point out the main distinction. It 
consists in this : the union of the Deity with humanity may 
be regarded either in a pantheistic sense, as a matter of con- 
sciousness, of thought and feeling, — as something capable of 
universal application; or, according to the principles of 
Christian theism, and the declarations of Scripture, as some- 
thing real, actual, and individual. From these two leading 
conceptions branch a number of results, still retaining their 
mutual opposition. Certainly this principle, in whichever 
sense interpreted, must contain the highest, most important 
truth, and involve within itself the secret of that mighty, 
world-controlling influence exercised by Christianity ; for 
assuredly, in the whole circle of religious thought, there is 
nothing more sublime than the consciousness in man of an 
entire union with the Deity. This leading idea, whether it 
mean that God communicates himself to man, or that man 
learns to recognize his own eternal, god-like nature, must 
give a different aspect to ail things ; and a religion founded 
thereon must differ essentially from all in which such a prin- 
ciple is wanting. But the mode also in which this principle 
is received, whether as a matter of consciousness or as a 



90 



THE ESSENCE 



revealed fact; as a "union of the Divine and human," 
applicable to the whole race of man ; or as a " union of God 
with Man," which can be accomplished only in a certain man- 
ner and under certain moral conditions, — is of the greatest 
importance for the true comprehension of Christianity ; and 
this question therefore deserves an especial examination. 

VII. 

Hegel viewed Christianity as the true, absolute, self-evi- 
dent religion. It appeared to him such, because it declares 
the unity of the Divine and Human, because its real purport 
is God's communication of Himself to man. On this prin- 
ciple he undertook to reconcile Christianity and philosophy, 
or to show that their highest results were identical. Both 
agree in the same great truth ; only, philosophy treats as a 
speculative conception, capable of universal application, what 
Christianity demonstrates practically, and views as an indi- 
vidual fact, in the person of the Divine Man. It is the 
nature of God to communicate himself to man, and the 
nature of man to become a partaker of the Divine Essence. 
The distinctive peculiarity of Chi'istianity is this, that it 
reminds man of the Deity which dwells within him ; that it 
solves the dissonance between the Divine and human, be- 
tween this world and the next; that it has brought down 
heaven to earth, and merged all discrepancies between the 
finite and infinite into one enlarged, comprehensive view of 
existence. The first satisfactory, intelligible working out of 
this conception is the triumph of that modern philosophy, 
of which Spinoza was the chief originator. 

This definition was, however, far from acceptable to the 
later disciples of Hegel's school. The peace which he sought 
to establish between Christianity and philosophy appeared to 
them delusive. They viewed the case quite differently, espe- 
cially with reference to Christianity. Some said, Chris ti- 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



91 



anity, far from teaching the identity of the finite and infinite, 
takes, on the contrary, for its fundamental principle, the 
independent existence of G-od beyond the world, and thus 
stands in direct opposition to the speculative principle which 
represents Him as dwelling in the world. Others maintain : 
Christianity indeed teaches a unity of the Divine and Human, 
but only in a single individual, in one solitary instance, 
which, in a view of human life as a whole, may easily become 
imperceptible; and even this depends on the doctrine of 
another state of being ; so that, as far as all other human 
and natural interests are concerned, the gulf remains, and the 
dissonance remains unreconciled. It is indeed admitted by 
the supporters of this last objection, that to even this one 
point of union between the Divine and human, Christianity 
is indebted for its empire over the world's history, inasmuch 
as it thereby originated a new spiritual development ; nay, 
the Christian conception of this union is acknowledged to be 
truer than any which are to be met with in previous religions. 
Thus, even here, this conception is allowed to be the highest 
specific distinction of Christianity ; but not only is the actual, 
historical realization of this union in Christ denied, and re- 
garded as the decoration bestowed upon him, as a lay-figure, 
by the blind veneration of the church, but it is urged that, 
as this union is with regard to Christian faith only momentary 
and transient, while the great truths of God's perpetual com- 
munication of Himself to the whole human race, and of the 
Deity dwelling in man, are not recognized, therefore the diffi- 
culty is not yet surmounted ; that, except in Christ's own 
person, the ideas of God and man, heaven and earth, this 
world and the next, still remain unreconciled ; that their 
union is, therefore, never viewed as a present fact, but as 
something by-gone in Christ, and future in the blessedness of 
heaven. 

We have thus, in the same school, three modes of inter- 
pretation. They agree in receiving, as the highest truth, the 



92 



THE ESSENCE 



doctrine of pantheism and the identity of Divine and human 
things — of God's absolute existence in the world ; but they 
differ in a highly significant manner. The first regards 
Christianity and philosophy as essentially coinciding; the 
second, as inherently opposed ; the third, as differing on the 
whole, but agreeing in one single point, which point, how- 
ever, though the most important and influential in Christi- 
anity, is said to have owed to modem speculation its first 
development into a world-embracing system of truth. 

If we now contemplate this school as a whole, we must 
allow it the merit of recognizing that which is most valuable 
in Christianity ; but while acknowledging this central point, 
the disciples of Hegel reduce it to a caput mortuum, and de- 
grade what in Christianity is life, reality, moral energy, to an 
unsatisfactory abstract speculation. For what these specu- 
latists call the union of the Divine and human, does not 
imply that these two principles, originally distinct, were 
actually and perfectly blended in the character of Christ, and 
that, under his influence, the same union may be realized in 
all mankind ; but that Deity and humanity are originally and 
eternally identical, and in their essence can never be distin- 
guished ; so that God is only the abstract truth of humanity, 
and Man the embodied manifestation of the Deity ; and that 
thus Man, at a certain stage of his development, must neces- 
sarily arrive at a knowledge of his true being, — that is, of 
his divinity or oneness with God. This stage, they say, was 
attained in Christianity ; but it matters little whether it was 
first realized in the consciousness of Christ liimseif, or, 
through his means, in his disciples. But, it is further urged, 
the form in which this truth was first presented to the world 
was a very imperfect one; inasmuch as the union which 
exists in all mankind, was there represented as realized in 
one solitary example; modern philosophy first stripped off 
the useless husk, and brought to maturity the speculative 
germ therein contained. By this very process, however, the 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



93 



whole significance of the original form was lost ; some were 
desirous, as it had already an historical power, of retaining it 
in a symbolical sense ; others flung it wholly aside, like a 
ladder when the height is attained. The heart of Christianity 
was examined with a sharper vision, but only that aim might 
be taken for the deadly shaft. 

But if we now inquire separately into the above-mentioned 
views, we shall at once reject, as unworthy of refutation, that 
winch represents Christianity as a mere abstract theory of the 
invisible world. Whoever has even a superficial acquaintance 
with the subject, must be aware that the Christian religion, 
while distinguishing God from the world, recognizes the 
existence of God in the world, and of the world through 
Him ; that it teaches His power oi' communicating Himself 
to His creatures, while denying that His being is merged in 
theirs. But it is again objected, that Christianity recognizes 
an absolute union of the Divine end Human in Christ's 
person alone. There is here, Indeed, an error in conception, 
since the capacity for union of God existed not in Christ 
alone, but was awakened, by his redeeming influence, in Ms 
faithful disciples. Nor does Christianity, as these objections 
affirm, leave human and divine things in other respects un- 
reconciled; heaven is not regarded merely as an invisible 
state, nor its blessedness as something wholly future ; both 
are represented as capable of realization even here, at this 
present time, in this earthly life. But the identity of material 
and spiritual life, in the sense of Hegel's followers, Christi- 
anity indeed does not admit. One dissonance it teaches still 
exists ; the dissonance of Sin. Every one perceives, by his 
own conscience, the existence of Sin, and is aware that through 
it he is at variance with himself; still more, that he is in 
opposition, in a state of hostility to a holy God. To deny 
the existence of this dissonance, we must deny that of Sin, 
or of God, or of both. To deny the former, implies the 



94 



THE ESSENCE 



annihilation of the moral, the latter, that of the religious per- 
ception ; the denial of both involves the destruction of man's 
higher nature, of his capacity for the Holy. At any rate, 
whoever finds himself in either of these cases, must at least 
entirely reject Christianity, which, unless this dissonance be 
acknowledged, is necessarily devoid of meaning. Philosophy 
may logically solve the discord ; but by this logical solution 
no conscience has ever yet been quieted, no aspiration realized, 
no sinner born again to a new life. Men, in whom a specu- 
lative philosophy has swallowed up all other interests, has 
stifled even the moral sense, and bewildered the conscience, 
may fancy themselves satisfied, when they only reason away 
Sin, without having freed themselves from its influence ; or 
when, by their sophisms, they convert it into a necessity, and 
thus refer it to a Divine originator. But where the conscience 
is yet alive and wakeful, where the idea of the Holy still 
exists in its strength and purity, where free will is not wholly 
abandoned for necessity, — there must the antagonism between 
Good and Evil, between Sin and Holiness, be deeply felt : 
there must a solution, beyond what mere reason can afford, 
be required and sought ; — a solution which is in fact Re- 
demption ; which not only satisfies the reason, but tran- 
quillizes the conscience, and places the whole man in a new 
relation to the holy God. Such a solution, such a Redemp- 
tion, is given by Christianity. Admitting the full force of 
the opposition, it places in the clearest light the contrast 
between purity and sin, between God and the world ; but it 
then removes the difficulty, by showing us the entire union of 
God with Man, in one actual human life ; and thus reveals a 
redemption, depending, not indeed on a sudden perception, 
but on a difficult moral process. Here we find united all 
those conditions which have been insisted upon, separately, by 
other systems ; but unless we could change the whole cha- 
racter of Christianity, we can conceive of it in no other than 



OF CHMSTIAN1TY. 



95 



that of Moral Theism ; — that is, as a religion not dividing, 
but distinguishing, God and the World ; — acknowledging God 
in His absolute holiness, and only through holiness, leading 
to union with Him. 

VIII. 

That Christ himself was conscious of his perfect union with 
God, and that he produced, upon all those around him who 
were susceptible of such a feeling, the impression of an exist- 
ence pervaded by the fulness of the Divine spirit and nature, 
there can be no doubt. This feeling is indeed variously 
expressed by the different apostles ; by John, in his doctrine 
of the Logos, the eternal, divine word, which became flesh ; 
by Paul, when he represents Christ as the brightness of God's 
glory, and the perfect image of His person ; while the others 
set forth still more simply their impression of the intimate, 
immediate communion of the Son with the Father ; — but 
amidst all diversities of expression, the main idea remains the 
same, and warrants us in assuming this as the essential 
feature of Christianity. Now when men of such variously- 
constituted minds are found to agree in so important, pecu- 
liar, and original a conception- — for neither the pagan accounts 
of divine incarnations and god-descended men, nor the Jewish 
notions of the Messiah, brought home to the mind this idea, 
as we find it in Christianity — we cannot regard this agreement 
as a matter of chance, but must consider it the result of an 
internal necessity, inherent in the nature of Christianity, 
growing out of the impression produced by the word, the 
spirit, and the life of Christ ; and confirmed by the entire 
harmony between this historical manifestation, and that 
inward perception of the godlike, which through it was first 
awakened to full consciousness. But the main point must 
still be Christ's representation of himself; the manner in 
which he, lowly and truthful as he was, expressed himself 



96 



THE ESSENCE 



regarding his relation to God. And here our only choice is 
between the supposition of a visionary self-idolatry — in which 
case Christ can no longer remain to ns a great, p"are-minded 
man — or a belief in the truth of the consciousness which he 
expressed. But were internal proofs wanting for the latter 
alternative, we have external evidence even in that world- 
swaying and world-pervading influence, for winch no pious 
fiction can account; which can proceed only from a real, 
living power. 

Nor have we less clear evidence of Christ's own desire, 
that his life and spirit should be shared by his followers ; that 
this life should be perpetuated in them, and become, through, 
their instrumentality, the life of mankind. Both these 
truths — Christ's consciousness of his union with God, and 
his desire to communicate the same privilege to his fol- 
lowers — are expressed as the highest ideas of Christianity, 
by the fourth gospel, in the most varied forms and applica- 
tions. Thus Christ, himself glorified by the Father, desires 
to be glorified again in his disciples : they are commanded to 
partake of his flesh and blood, that thereby thej may receive 
his life. But all is concentrated in the words, — " That they 
all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, 
that they also may be one in us ;" — and again, — c; I in them 
and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one • and 
that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that 
thou lovest them, even as thou lovest me." All which is 
God's is Christ's, and this divine fulness he will impart to 
his followers ; or, as the apostle Paul inversely expresses it, — 
" AH is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 

If this fundamental principle is not merely taught but 
realized in Christianity, three results naturally follow. First, 
a religion which contains this truth must be distinguished 
chiefly by this, as its peculiar characteristic, from all other 
religions. Secondly, it will prove, by this very characteristic, 
its claim to be considered the perfect, absolute religion, the 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



97 



faith of mankind. Thirdly, all things, viewed from this 
central point, will assume then* due position, and appear in 
the best light. And this is really the case, as is now to be 
shown. 

IX. 

All Religion is essentially communion of Man with God. 
Can we imagine it otherwise, unless as a mere abstraction ? 
Keligion is that which stands between God and Man. Now if 
God is a living, self-conscious, personal, as well as omni- 
present Spirit, and if Man is also an individual, and a being- 
capable of spiritual intercourse : — then the relation between 
them cannot be one of mere reason or conception, but must 
have a riving reality, a mutual operation. God must actually 
condescend and communicate Himself to Man ; Man must in 
truth raise himself to God, and have a consciousness of His 
presence, not in idea alone, but in spirit, power, and love. 
Even the great minds of antiquity held this view : Socrates 
speaks of his monitory daemon, Plato of a communion of 
man with the Deity, of which Eros ( Love ) is the medium. 
No otherwise can we understand religion, if we mean what 
we say in calling Conscience the voice of God within us ; 
if we realize the idea of God's omnipresence; if we hold 
prayer, the breath of life, for aught but folly and self-delusion, 

A perfect, undisturbed union, such as we have described, 
of Man with God, we conceive to have existed, though in a 
way unknown to ourselves, in the state of innocence, when 
Man had but recently come forth from the hand of his holy 
Creator. But this state of innocence has yielded to sin, to a 
state of discord with God. The office of religion is now to 
reconcile, to atone, — to restore, not unconscious innocence, 
but a union matured and strengthened by those conflicts and 
struggles through which man must pass to attain his spiritual 
ripeness. 

p 



98 



THE ESSENCE 



A communion of the Human with the Divine was aimed 
at even by the religions before Christianity ; and for this very 
reason, because they were religions. Judaism, which is 
strongly pervaded by the idea of holiness, and the conscious- 
ness of sin, sought this union by atonement and expiation ; 
Paganism, in which the moral element was more or less defi- 
cient, by means of artistic representation or external services. 
Sut a true communion, much more a union of Man with 
God, was out of the question in both cases ; being rendered 
impossible by the principles on which these systems were 
founded. 

Paganism, as religion, never once rose to the full concep- 
tion of the Divine, as something holy, spiritual, individual,, 
superior to nature. The Godhead was pantheistically merged 
in nature ; nature revered, apotheosized, as something Divine. 
The Deity was indeed represented under human forms ; but 
this constituted no true union ; since in such representations 
God was no longer God, but encumbered with the imperfec- 
tions of a finite nature; nor man truly such, but a phantom 
of another state of being. 

Judaism, on the other hand, was an ethical, monotheistic 
religion, distinguishing God from the world. But here we 
find a new diniculty. Whilst Paganism confused the ideas of 
the Divine and Human, of God and Nature, Judaism not 
merely distinguisJied, but separated them. God's influence 
upon nature and man was indeed acknowledged, but regarded 
as external rather thau internal ; as operating rather by 
extraordinary, miraculous interpositions, than in the regular, 
established course of things ; the communication of His 
spirit was viewed for the most part as something momentary, 
transient, or confined to a definite period ; after which nature 
and man were again left to themselves. Here, therefore, God 
and Man retain their true characters ; but the union between 
them is neither true nor perfect. Christianity alone distin- 
guishes without dividing ; teaches the perfect holiness of God, 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



99 



but at the same time His infinite grace and condescension ; — 
the distinctly human nature of Man, but also his divine 
origin and capacities. The union which it offers is not a 
transient infusion of the Divine spirit, in moments of 
ecstasy or inspiration ; but an abiding presence, pervading 
the whole course of life, and requiring only the ethical con- 
dition of holiness in Man. Thus the end to which all 
previous systems vainly aspired is here attained ; and Chris- 
tianity is thereby not only definitely distinguished from 
Judaism and Paganism, but elevated to an essentially higher 
dignity, as that absolute unchangeable Truth, into which 
merges all that was excellent in former systems. 

X. 

Religion, such as we have defined it, is by its very nature, 
Love ; for upon love all true communion depends. It is the 
love of man to God, originating in his experience of the di- 
vine Love. Where this love is perfect, the highest point of 
the religious life is reached. This was the case with Christ. 
By love he became the embodiment of perfect religion. His 
mission, his subjection to suffering and death, were the work 
of that eternal Love, which spared not even its dearest object 
when fallen humanity was to 'be restored and blessed ; he 
himself entered with perfect freewill into this Divine plan ; 
his whole life was animated by a love, which for its purity 
and unconquerable endiuance can only be called divine ; and 
as by its power he resigned himself umeservedly to God, so 
also he devoted himself in life, in suffering, and in death, 
to restore and re-unite to God his brother-men. Thus he 
is at once, in his own person, the most perfect revelation 
of God's love to Man, and the most sublime instance of 
human love to God, and of that devoted, self-denying love to 
men, as brothers, which is its natural result. Such a specta- 
cle is presented by no other religion ; therefore only in Chris- 
tianity is God known as Love ; only therein is the brotherly 



100 



THE ESSENCE 



love of mankind identified with the love of God, and the ab- 
sence of it regarded as sin, as spiritual fratricide. Bnt not 
only did former ages fail to attain this eminence ; even in 
later times it never has been, never can be surpassed. For 
were another to love as perfectly as Christ — an experiment 
which has not been yet witnessed — this could now be accom- 
plished only through him, and in the power of that human 
brotherhood which he originated ; since beyond the limits 
which his influence has yet reached, we see no signs of even 
an approach to such an elevation. Thus Christianity, as the 
only religion which presents a perfect example of divine and 
human love, united in the person of its Founder, still main- 
tains its station as the Perfect Religion. 

This perfect love lies at the foundation of that entire moral 
and spiritual union between God and Man, which has been 
fixed upon as the criterion of the highest stage of religious 
progress. Let us even admit for a moment, what is assumed 
by the Speculatists, that the consciousness of this union is 
only an intellectual perception, first awakened in Christ, or 
attributed to him by the veneration of his followers. Good, 
We certainly do not see how the disciples arrived at the 
idea, unless they had sufficient ground for it in Christ. But 
so be it. This idea still remains the peculiar distinction of 
Christianity. If Religion is a mere matter of Reason, Ave 
have here the highest attainment of which Reason is capable. 
Such a conception can be surpassed only by its realization ; 
and this the Christian faith, in exact contrast to modern 
speculation, presents to us in Christ. Even the Speculatists, 
indeed, aim at realizing their theory; but here speculation halts. 
For the true idea of union is wanting, that of identity being 
substituted. If Man is essentially only the manifestation of 
God, he cannot now for the first time become one with God. 
And besides, this union is represented as realized in the race 
of mankind ; but this race is composed of individuals ; and 
in no one of these individuals do we meet with more than a 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



101 



very imperfect realization of the conception, morally under- 
stood. How then, where only retracted rays are to be seen ? 
shall we attain to perfect light ? Speculative philosophy 
strives to extinguish the pure, brilliant, moral Sun, and to 
substitute earthly lamps, which, though multiplied indefi- 
nitely, can never make one sun. Christianity, therefore, is the 
perfect Religion, only inasmuch as it affords us, in Christ, the 
only perfect Realization of this divine idea. 

XL 

Viewed from this central point, all the various characteris- 
tics of Christianity assume their due position, and appear in 
their true light. Thus Christianity is indeed Doctrine ; but 
the doctrine is not all ; it is only the embodiment, the vehicle 
of that which gives to this religion its original, creative power. 
Like the statues of Hermes, to which Plato's Alcibiades com- 
pares Socrates, the Doctrine is only the unshaped block, 
which contains within it the divine image. It was necessary 
that Christ's character, the manifestation of which was his 
principal mission, should be handed down to us in his own 
discourses, and in the historical and doctrinal testimony of 
others ; but indispensable as is Doctrine in this connexion, it 
always leads us back to that Avhich alone makes it valuable. 
Christian Doctrine gives us Christianity ; but the life of Christ 
is Christianity. 

Again, the idea of Revelation, — which is allied to that of 
Doctrine, but more comprehensive, — is thus shown in its true 
light. Revelation does not merely imply an enlarged theo- 
retical knowledge of the Divine Nature; but since, when 
communicated to a sinful race, it must necessarily be accom- 
panied by Redemption from sin, it must be considered chiefly 
as discovering the means of salvation, as making God known 
in His redeeming, saving character. But for this purpose, the 
Word alone, the Doctrine, does not suffice. Revelation bv 
F 2 



102 



THE ESSENCE 



the Word is indeed far superior to the mute, veiled revelation 
afforded through the works of creation, but stands in its turn 
far below the revelation by Action. Only in acts can the 
living God be fully revealed, and in their saving power His 
spirit be manifested. This took place only partially and 
by obscure hints, in the preparatory revelation ; in the perfect 
one, all God's will to Man was to be clearly and fully repre- 
sented in a life full of grace and truth. In this and no 
other sense is Christianity a revelation : that in the words and 
deeds, the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, 
are fully expressed the Divine Nature, and the designs of 
Eternal Love for Man's salvation. 

Christianity is also a Moral Law. Were it however exclu- 
sively or essentially Law, it would be only a reformed, en- 
larged Judaism ; instead of introducing life and freedom, it 
must have left mankind still under the yoke and penalty of 
sin. A law, even the most enlightened, remains always some- 
thing external and antagonistic to Man ; laying down imper- 
ative rules, and visiting with censure, condemnation, and 
death, every violation of its precepts ; and such violations 
will never be wanting. Love alone can give life to these dead 
forms ; and when this is done, as in the life of Christ, the 
law becomes written on the heart ; it is now an inward, vital 
principle, and can therefore no more condemn and destroy. 
Christianity, indeed, while in one sense it may be said to have 
abolished the law, is in another the perfecting and Mulling 
of the law. To the unrepentant sinner, it retains its legal 
and judicial character; and thus, he who considers it as 
essentially a Moral Law, is not wholly wrong ; but he has not 
penetrated to that deepest significance of Christianity, which 
constitutes it a Gospel to those who believe thereon. When 
ve find Christianity spoken of as a law, it is as the Law of 
i iiberty ; thus involving the idea of liberation from Law as an 
external, constraining power. 

Christianity is also Eedemption and Reconciliation ; but 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



103 



all its authority in these characters may be traced hack to the 
same source ; the Union of Christ with God. On this 
subject, a few words of explanation must be added to what 
has been already said. Eedemption and Reconciliation were 
proposed by Judaism also, but only imperfectly accomplished. 
The reason was, that the means employed were of a symbol- 
ical character, which might temporarily free the conscience 
from the feeling of sinfulness, and assure it of the Divine 
grace, but could not destroy sin itself, or introduce a new 
moral life. This can happen only when the redemption is ac- 
complished by moral means : that is, in the person of a 
voluntary Eedeemer, who, while sharing the nature of those 
he comes to redeem, presents in his life the realization and 
perfection of all that they are to aim at, and the subjugation 
of all which they have to overcome. Freedom from the yoke 
and consequence of sin, can be given only by one who is 
himself free. Again, as we have often urged, perfect Eedemp- 
tion depends upon Reconciliation : on a restored assurance 
of God's grace, and of union with Him. But this union can 
be re-established only by one who himself fully enjoys it ; 
whose soul is animated by an all-pervading sense of the 
Divine Love. Doubtless the great Apostle said advisedly : 
" God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself;" since 
this very existence of God in Christ, was at once the origin 
and the means of Eeconciliation. 

From this main principle, both the theological and anthropo- 
logical views of Christianity receive their relative importance 
and comparative truth. No longer contradictory, both are 
united and perfected in Christ ology. The miraculous circum- 
stances, also, by which the career of the divine Man was 
attended become natural and comprehensible ; since, where 
the Divinity enters thus into human life, higher laws and 
powers must be expected to manifest themselves ; and espe- 
cially that miracle which has been, from the commencement, the 
main historical buttress of Christianity — the Eesurrection of 



104 



THE ESSENCE 



Christ — appears now the necessary result of his god-like 
nature; and a warrant for a similar hope in believers, by 
means of their union in life and spirit with him. 

XII. 

We may now, condensing all that has previously been said, 
define in the following words our precise view. 

That which constitutes the specific, distinctive character of 
Christianity, is not its Doctrine, its Moral Law, nor even its 
Bedeeming Power; — but the peculiar office, the moral and 
religious authority of its Founder, as the individual in whom 
the union of the Divine with the Human was fully manifested. 
For Doctrine, Law, and Redemption, derive their force from 
this individual manifestation, not it from them. This it is, 
which exclusively belongs to Christianity; while all other 
proposed characteristics have been shared to a certain degree 
by other religions. 

Tims viewed, Christianity assumes a perfect, organic form : 
developing, from an individual centre, all its powers and gifts, 
it addresses itself to all mankind, whom its mission is to 
gather into one Kingdom of God ; to organise into one fitly- 
compacted community of God-like men. 

This conception of Christianity is not indeed entirely new. 
We trace it, under another form, even in the early Mysticism, 
and especially among the German mystics of the middle ages. 
In this, and in their general treatment of the subject, they 
are nearly allied to the speculators of modern times: only 
that, what in the latter is the result of reasoning, reflection, 
criticism, sprang in the former from a deep religious enthu- 
siasm, and thus assumed a different aspect. The point of 
coincidence is this : that both regard the Spirit as alone 
essential, and convert the historical portion of Christianity 
into a mere symbol of its inward truth. Thus Christ is to 
them less an historical individual, than the highest type of 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



105 



humanity ; his history is the inner life which all should strive 
to realize, and through the realization of which, the history 
receives its true significance. But even among the mystics 
we trace two parties; the pantheistic, best represented in 
modern speculation by the highly -praised Eckart; and the 
theistic. According to the former, Christ was only the first 
who became aware of his filial relation to God; while the 
latter recognize a voluntary revelation on God's part, and on 
that of Christ, the fulfilment of the moral conditions which 
such a revelation required. While the pantheistic division 
was in a great measure the prototype of modern speculation, 
the theistic, by the depth and warmth of their religious feel- 
ings, to a certain degree prepared the way for the Reforma- 
tion. But into the Reformation a new element entered. The 
mystics had more or less overlooked Sin, the dark point in 
human life ; and the consequent necessity of Redemption and 
Reconciliation. Of these points, Luther's consciousness, the 
result of his whole nature and training, was peculiarly strong; 
and by him the same consciousness was powerfully awakened 
among the best of his contemporaries. Thus, since Recon- 
ciliation could not be accomplished by an ideal image, the 
historical personality of Christ was again brought prominently 
forward, and assumed, as it were, more of a bodily form* 
That combination of the historical and the ideal, which con- 
stitutes the true character of Christianity, was now restored ; 
yet, by the Reformers generally, only in a partial sense. 
Christ was to them the true, actual Redeemer and Reconciler, 
but they failed to recognize that peculiarity of his character 
— his perfect union with God — through which he became 
such, and which renders him at the same time the historical 
type and pattern for all mankind. Here we are again recalled 
to the leading idea of the mystics ; but while we appropriate 
this idea (though in a modified sense), we must not lose 
sight of the truth and value of the principles brought forward 
by the Reformation. We have therefore aimed at a definition 



106 



THE ESSENCE 



which should combine whatever is correct in the views both 
of the speculative Mystics and of the practical Reformers. 
The Essence of Christianity is certainly union (or oneness) 
with God, as exemplified in its Founder, and rendered pos- 
sible to his followers ; but this truth is rightly understood, 
only when based on that Theism which is a constituent 
element of Christianity ; and when giving their full, undi- 
minished authority to the doctrines of Redemption and Re- 
conciliation, of Faith, Repentance, and Sanctification. 

XIII. 

We shall now deduce, from the foregoing, some conse- 
quences, first with reference to individuals, and next to the 
Christian community. 

If it is true that the individual character of Christ forms 
the vital, central point of Christianity, and that the power of 
this character, its efficacy for Redemption, Reconciliation, 
and Sanctification, consists in the perfect union therein 
displayed, of the Divine with the human nature ; — it follows, 
that now, as eighteen hundred years ago, men can become 
Christians only by entering into a living communion with this 
character, and through it with God ; and can participate in 
the full benefits of Christianity only as far as they persevere 
with growing steadfastness in this communion ; — as Christ 
becomes more and more a living existence within them, per- 
vading their whole life, and calling forth within them a higher 
nature, like unto his own. This is the spiritual glorification 
of Christ, of which all Scripture breathes ; his glorification in 
the hearts and lives of individuals, and thus, in all mankind. 
But admission into this communion of life with Christ, and 
perseverance therein, depend upon Faith, or rather, this is 
Faith. Faith, however, is no isolated principle, but is 
necessarily preceded by Acknowledgment and' Repentance of 
Sin, which alone can conduct to Christ as a Redeemer and 



OP CHRISTIANITY, 



107 



Reconciler ; and followed by Regeneration and Sanctification, 
the necessary results of receiving Christ as a new principle of 
life. This is the mode by winch, according to the Christian 
economy, the sinner is justified before God, and received into 
the adoption of a son. Salvation offered by God through 
Christ, on the one side, and its reception through faith, on 
the other ; — these two fundamental ideas remain always the 
same, however the form and language, in which we bring 
them before us, may vary with the necessities of the times. 

If then the person of the Redeemer is the true object of 
Christian Faith, it appears as if those who received its imme- 
diate impression enjoyed an infinite advantage over all suc- 
ceeding generations, and especially over us of later days. 
Hence has arisen, in many individuals of simple piety, a 
longing for the immediate presence and society of Christ, 
and a deep regret not to have been found worthy of those 
privileges which were enjoyed by his contemporaries. This 
feeling is founded on a natural and true appreciation of the 
power of personal impressions. But there is another side of 
the question, and the more important one for us, which we 
must not overlook. Faith is the result not of the Lord's 
bodily presence to the senses, but of his spiritual presence to 
the mind. The greatest among the Apostles had never 
beheld Christ with his bo\lily eyes, or if even he had so 
beheld him, he was resolved to know him no more according 
to the flesh, but only according to the spirit. And as Christ 
was still present in spirit to Paul, and to those other followers 
who believed in him in the period immediately following his 
removal from earth, so may he yet be to us. That which 
was delivered to Paul, by word of mouth, through the visible 
manifestation of Christ, we possess in the testimony of Scrip- 
ture ; in whose records, whatever may be said to the contrary, 
the divine form of the Lord stands, distinct and faith-inspiring, 
before the candid, unperverted mind ; the spirit of Christ, by 
which these records are pervaded, is not yet dead ; and its 



103 



THE ESSENCE 



workings, of which Paul saw the beginning, are now certified 
to us by a thousand witnesses. In the latter point of view, 
indeed, we have obviously the advantage. While Paul saw 
only the commencement, as a pledge of what was to follow, 
we can trace the incalculable influence of this spirit through a 
period of nearly two thousand years. We know, by expe- 
rience, how Christianity has changed and regenerated man- 
kind ; how it has become a sanctifying, moralizing, liberating 
power. We see in how many individual lives and characters 
Christ has had a living presence, manifold in form but the 
same in spirit; we perceive from history how Christianity 
has rendered great all nations susceptible of its influence, and 
how each of these, according to its natural endowments, has 
so received it, that, while none has been capable of embracing 
it as a whole, its spirit and its purposes have been, by all 
collectively, most grandly realized. The dull, haK-enlightened 
eye may take offence at Christ's appearance in the form of a 
servant ; but whoever traces the victorious progress of his 
spirit from century to century, after his visible presence was 
withdrawn, will view the testimonies relating to his history 
in quite a new light ; and from these undeniable results, will 
derive the strongest evidence for their cause, which is no 
other than the personal character of Christ, as depicted in the 
Gospels. 

In the oldest primitive records which we possess of Christ's 
life and works, one character under which he appears is 
certainly that of a Teacher. If you confine yourself to this, 
he will in this character teach you much that is good, great, 
consolatory, eternally true ; you may sit as a disciple at his 
feet, you may examine his doctrine as a philosopher, and 
appropriate to your own use, either certain portions (as was 
done by pious heathens from the first, and by the founder 
of Islamism himself,) or the whole : but, even should the 
latter be the case, you still would not possess the whole 
Christ, as he has been possessed by the Apostles and all real 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



109 



Christians. Doctrine, as such, depends on words or written 
testimony, but a merely spoken or written Christianity would 
be assuredly no perfect Christianity. The teacher, if a good 
one, is honoured and loved; but we stand independently 
before him, we do not give up our soul to him, or receive 
him within us as a new, vital principle. We seek from him 
information, satisfaction for our understanding, direction in 
certain actions ; but the great object with which Religion is 
concerned is Life, the whole Life. Life can proceed only from 
Life ; and only in so far as you understand Christ as Life, 
can he become to you the giver, the Prince of Life. 

Christ also, as the Scriptures bear witness, delivered and 
exemplified a Moral Law ; and here again he stands alone in 
his supremacy. The eternal laws which slumber in the human 
breast, were expressed by him with a clearness and power 
which belongs to no other, and engraved on the hearts of 
mankind with " such fiery characters as lightning on the 
rocks inscribeth;" he also impressed on these words the seal 
of life and action ; and up to the present day he is unsur- 
passed both as a teacher and as an example of morality. 
Here also you could not err, while obeying his words and 
following his steps ; nor could you do so without strengthen- 
ing your conviction that he spoke not of himself. But this 
very attempt, if earnestly made, will lead you at once to a 
deeper veneration of Christ, and a clearer knowledge of your- 
self. You will feel how far you remain behind him, in action 
even, and still more in that frame of mind from which action 
proceeds ; you will perceive how far you are from fulfilling 
the great command, " to love God with all your strength, and 
your neighbour as yourself," as it was fulfilled by Christ to 
his latest breath ; and, if not wholly deficient in sober and 
earnest thought, you will acknowledge that you have no 
glory before God the Holy one ; and instead of demanding a 
reward for your virtue, you will rather own yourself to be an 
unprofitable servant, and exclaim with the publican, c< God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! " 

G 



110 



THE ESSENCE 



But this very experience will send you from Christ the 
mere teacher and lawgiver, to Christ the Redeemer and 
Reconciler; to him who not only says, "Thy sins are 
forgiven thee," but goes even unto death under the pure 
impulse of divine love, and sheds his blood that we may have 
a pledge of the Divine mercy ; that a new treaty of peace 
with God may be established, in which man, abandoning all 
idea of merit in his imperfect works, may give himself up 
wholly to that Divine Love as manifested in Christ, and 
receive in return that strength of love, that joy in all good- 
ness, which waits not for commands, but does, before the 
c >mmand is given, and more than it enjoins. 

But Christ can be this Eedeemer and Reconciler, only if he 
is that very individual character represented in the Scriptures. 
Only if, as the apostle Paul says, God was in him, can God 
through him have reconciled the world to Himself. And 
this character, in which the Divine and Human were so 
perfectly united, could not, by its very nature, be manifested 
in this or that detached portion of human life, or in any one 
single department, but must be developed in one life, one 
perfect, living, divine work. Its influence is therefore not 
directed exclusively to the amelioration of any one portion of 
the human nature, — of the Reason by Doctrine, of the 
Peelings by Love, of the Will by Law and Example, — but to 
the improvement and cultivation of that nature as a whole. 
And the full result of this influence cannot be better ex- 
pressed than by the word which the Scriptures have given us, 
and which Luther and the Reformers have rendered familiar 
among us Germans, — Faith. Faith is not historical or 
doctrinal belief, it is not even what we call conviction, or the 
will and action proceeding from that conviction ; but it is the 
reception of the Divine Spirit into the inner life, the conscious, 
voluntary, loving, self-abandonment of man to God. In this 
seuse, Faith is the divine life which Christ was sent to com- 
municate to mankind. 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



Ill 



XIV. 

On the same basis is founded the community of believers, 
the Church. The Church, so far as it corresponds to its true 
character, is the Kingdom of God, or, in other words, Christi- 
anity realized in the world. So far from being anything 
external or incidental, it necessarily results from the very 
nature of Christianity. The life of Christ, as the life of 
perfect love to God and man, binds those who share it into 
fellowship ; and as the God revealed in Christianity is a God 
of Order, so must this fellowship, notwithstanding the variety 
of gifts and characters therein comprised, constitute one 
perfect whole, organized and developed according to essential 
inherent laws. 

If, then, the Church is only the natural expression, the 
realization of Christianity, then must the Essential Charac- 
teristic of Christianity be also that of the Church. We there- 
fore say, on the one hand, — the Church is no mere moral 
institution, no school for the dissemination of doctrine, or the 
promotion of redemption or reconciliation ; — but, on the 
other hand, — as Christ taught and bore witness to the truth, 
so must the Church teach and bear witness ; as he by word 
and deed promoted morality, so must the Church cultivate 
and cherish it ; the Eedemption and Reconciliation which he 
revealed, the Church should with all its powers diffuse and 
render available. But all must be done with reference to the 
central point of Christianity, which is the life and character 
of Christ himself; and the more all secondary objects are 
kept subordinate to this main principle, the better will the 
Church fulfil its orlice, the more Christian will it become. 
What has been said of God's relation to the world, that 
Preservation is a continued Creation, is applicable in this 
case also; — it has passed into a political maxim, that the 
permanence and prosperity of any institution must depend on 
the continuance of those causes which first called it into 
g 2 



112 



THE ESSENCE 



existence ; — and thus the Church can be preserved only by 
the same principle to which it owed its origin ; its prosperity 
can be ensured only by its continued connexion with its root. 
In this sense the Apostle says, no other foundation can any 
man lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. In this sense 
he likens the Chinch to a living body, of which Christ is the 
head, the animating soul ; to a temple, in which, through, the 
spirit of Christ, the Holy One Himself dwells. In this sense 
also the true office of the Church is expressed, in the signi- 
ficant, comprehensive word, Edification ; which is limited 
neither to instruction, to chastisement, to improvement, or to 
consolation ; but denotes that all-embracing influence, which, 
upon the foundation of all that Christ was and is, has done 
and is yet doing for us, builds up, in individuals and in the 
community, a similar life of holiness. 

If, then, without Christ there is no Christianity, so without 
him there can be no Church ; and where he has a living- 
presence, there must be a Church : — " I am the vine, ye are 
the branches ; He who abideth in me bringeth forth much 
fruit ; but without me ye can do nothing." 

And here let us be again permitted to deduce some prac- 
tical results, and to cast a glance at the present time. 

First. A number of our contemporaries, who have hitherto 
belonged to the Catholic Church, are now earnestly occupied 
with the project of founding a new Church. This must be 
acknowledged to be a very significant symptom, which may 
well occasion much serious thought to parties on both this 
and the other side of the mountains ; and the (on this occa- 
sion) somewhat empty words of Gorres are yet far from 
having disposed of the question. This is not the place to 
pass a deliberate judgment on the whole affair ; we will only 
express what arises of itself from present inquiry, though we 
do so at the risk of being wholly unheard amid the tumult 
of the day. It is not necessary to say that these are the 
words of a Protestant, who abides by the old protest against 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



113 



priestly domination and interference, against the exclusive 
bigotry and Jesuitical spirit of Romanism, and especially 
against all actual perversions of Christianity ; and who holds 
that the spiritual sword must not be laid aside, so long as 
these corruptions endure. But the present question relates, 
not to this old opposition, but to a new and still problemati- 
cal position ; and to those by whom this has been taken up, 
we address ourselves in all goodwill, on the assumption that 
they also are willing to hear what is said in sincerity. Let 
him who aspires to be the founder of a new religious commu- 
nity reflect, not once, not superficially, but repeatedly and 
earnestly, what is involved in the task ! It is a great and 
holy work, incalculable in its results for whole generations : 
but it is also a labour of toil and sorrow, a work for which 
human sagacity and human strength are insufficient ; which 
can be accomplished only by the counsel and power of God, 
and when He, the ruler of history, prepares the way for its 
reception. Thus alone can it be enabled to resist the storms 
of life. And in the next place, a foundation is laid for the 
Church ; and besides it can no other way be laid. Whoever 
would establish a Christian community, may build thereon ; 
and he who does otherwise, will find that he has built upon 
the sand. But this is not all ; even he who adopts this sure 
foundation, must also follow in his work the order which 
Christ has appointed ; and this, for a sinful race, can only be 
through, the consciousness of Sin to Bepentance, through Re- 
pentance to Faith, through Faith to Sanctification, through 
Sanctification to Salvation. Above all, the assumption of 
personal merit, or the righteousness of works, must be ex- 
cluded j and every thing referred to the free grace of Grod. 
A Christian reformation can only take place by the develop- 
ment of Chiistianity into fuller, deeper efficacy ; but now, as 
eighteen hundred years ago, Chiistianity commences with the 
words, " Bepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This 
precept, and the means of salvation pointed out, may probably 



114 



THE ESSENCE 



appear antiquated to men of the present day ; and modern 
speculation, in which the first condition — the acknowledg- 
ment of Sin — is wanting, will probably reject them ; but this 
is and remains the Christian method, and whoever would 
found a Christian community must adopt it. If modern 
philosophy emancipates itself from Christianity, let it attempt 
on its own basis to establish a religious, or, more properly, a 
moral community; and thus practically test its own prin- 
ciples, by comparison of this community with the Church. 
We shall then at least have something clear and distinct ; a 
mixture of incongruous elements cannot in any case be per- 
manent, or even temporarily beneficial. 

Secondly. There will at all times be corruptions in the 
chmch, deficiencies and excresences, unbelief and superstition. 
These must not be spared or passed over, and we praise him 
who boldly enters the lists against them ; let him, however, 
not rest satisfied with destroying error, but immediately sub- 
stitute for it the clear truth ; or rather, let him, by bringing 
this truth to light, annihilate falsehood. So acted our 
German Reformers, and we cannot better describe this true 
mode of spiritual warfare, than in the words of their greatest 
warrior, Luther, the Hero of Faith : — " He is no wise 
teacher who says, This is a lie, and yet gives no certain 
truth in its place. It avails little to point out falsehood, yet 
be unable or unwilling to show us falsehood's great detector — 
Truth. "Whoever will destroy falsehood with a strong arm, 
must substitute for it obvious, certain, enduring truth. For 
Falsehood will not retreat in terror till bright unchangeable 
Truth appears." 

Thirdly. It is the duty of every Christian community 
already in existence, to remain firm on the true foundation ; 
to maintain its connexion with its true Head, that thus it 
may attain the stature and strength of maturity. Much is said 
in these days of the possibility of a union between the two 
great ecclesiastical parties of the West — the Catholic and the 



OF CHRISTIANITY. 



115 



Evangelical. Truly, a great and glorious idea ! An idea to 
which the patriot, the Christian, would gladly accede ! But 
who that is in the least acquainted with the hard realities of 
our religious and ecclesiastical position, can delude himself 
with the hope that such a consummation is near ? Who can 
believe it that beholds the revived energy of the papal system, 
the efforts of Jesuitism, the forcible renewal of so many 
things which long since seemed abrogated by common con- 
sent, the wide spreading differences in religious opinions and 
tendencies, the independence and diversity of individual views, 
which render a great organic combination in our day impossi- 
ble ? We w illin gly admit that such a free, all-embracing 
union is the crowning triumph of Christianity ; but for this 
triumph our age is not prepared. The religious, moral, and 
political conditions therein involved are yet far distant ; 
great events are perhaps also required, such as no human 
foresight can calculate, far less hasten. The present age 
seems to be only the preparation for what we have above 
denominated the Church of the future, — the truly universal 
church. If, however, this should ever be realized, it must 
still retain the same great central principle ; it can only be a 
fuller, more expansive development of those powers and gifts 
which Christ introduced among men ; of what now exist, only 
the extraneous, the false, the unchristian portion will be rejec- 
ted, while all that is excellent will be preserved, under a more 
perfect form. One of our existing communities boasts espe- 
cially of the Gospel, the other prides itself chiefly in a grand 
highly organized ecclesiastical system. Well, then, let each 
develope its own peculiar advantages, but at the same time 
let each endeavour to appropriate whatever is really excellent 
in the other. Let the one expand from its centre, and the 
other penetrate more deeply into the inward meaning of its 
external forms. Thus, points of concidence will assuredly be 
found ; and whenever Time's -diai strikes the mighty hour, 



116 THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. 

then will this partition-wall also fall before Him who formerly 
overthrew a far might er partition, and of Two made One. 
But fall it will not, till the living Head of the Church enters 
upon his full supremacy, and in him and his gospel all differ- 
ences are merged and reconciled. 



THE END. 



Morton & Chapman, Printers, 2, Crane-court, Fleet-street. 




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